


Peter Parker's October

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [26]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Bad Ideas, Bonfires, Candy, Domestic Fluff, Dry Ice, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Halloween Is Coming, Jack-o'-lanterns, October Has Arrived, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Precious Peter Parker, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkins, Randomness, S'mores, Scared Peter Parker, Scary Stories, Seasonal, Sick Peter Parker, Sickfic, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is Not Helping, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Trick or Treating, Witches Brew, fall weather
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 13:49:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20836508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: A collection of related short stories that center around fall/HalloweenEverything from pumpkin spice lattes to Halloween night.🎃🥧🍁🧡🕸️🧡🍁🥧🎃





	1. Pumpkin Spice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, October 1st

"It's the first day of October, Mr. Stark!", Peter announced as he came skipping into the lab for his Tuesday afternoon internship. 

Unsure of why the kid was telling him what day it was, Tony looked up and quirked an eyebrow. "Okay.", he said slowly. "It's October first. What am I missing, here?", he asked because, despite the fact that he'd probably not gotten quite enough sleep recently, he was fully aware of the date. He just couldn't seem to put together what made that particular date all that interesting. 

"It's like, the unofficial first day of fall, Mr. Stark. You can start doing things like decorating your porch with spider webs and--", Peter excitedly began to explain only to be cut off mid-sentence by his seemingly unimpressed mentor.

"--Yeah, you stay away from my balcony with your spider webs. I don't need any more of that sticky mess around here, thanks."

"Ugh. Not like that, Mr. Stark! Like the fake ones that you stretch out and stick little plastic spiders in. That's not really the point though.", Peter replied before backtracking slightly. "I mean not the _whole_ point. That's just part of it. The_ best part_ is that you can now officially start drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes without judgment."

Tony looked up from his work and rolled his eyes. "Really kid? Pumpkin Spice? Isn't that a little overdone at this point?", he asked flatly but didn't actually allow any time for Peter to respond before moving on. " I mean, I saw some Pumpkin Pie Kit-Kats at the corner store yesterday. I'm pretty sure that's pushing it." He sort of expected some sort of rambled protest but instead, Peter was looking at him expectantly. "What?"

"Did you get any?"

"Of the Kit-Kats?", Tony asked and when Peter nodded his head he just looked at him as if he were trying to decide if he was joking or not. "No. Why would I? That sounds nasty." Based on the frown he got in return he guessed the kid had been serious. Okay, then. 

"No, it definitely sounds amazing. pumpkin spice everything is amazing.", Peter returned with a smile even though he was slightly disappointed that the man hadn't actually purchased the candy. "I had a pumpkin spice soda once. It was awesome. You can add that flavor to anything and it would be good."

Giving Peter a dubious look, Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "What if it was, I don't know, pumpkin spice Jello or popcorn shrimp?", he asked as he tried not to gag at the mere mention of the latter. He was pretty sure that wasn't a real thing. At least he hoped it wasn't because surely there had to be a line drawn somewhere and seafood seemed like a decent enough place to draw it.

"Then I would try it because it's October.", Peter easily replied. He was pretty sure that if you did it right that flavor combination would work with literally anything. "Pumpkin spice is just _what you do_ in October. It's _a tradition_."

"It's not a tradition it's a trend.", Tony deadpanned. "It's a... Trend-ition."

"You can call it whatever you want, Mr. Stark but that doesn't change anything.", Peter laughed as he sat down in the chair beside his mentor who was still staring at him with amusement. 

Then after a few minutes of comfortable silence, Tony sighed and laughed before dropping hand heavily onto Peter's shoulder. "So what you're telling me is that you're one of those people that practically bleed pumpkin spice for an entire month."

"Two months.", Peter corrected. "You can get away with it through November and then you switch to gingerbread." He would have thought that would have been obvious. You go from one seasonal flavor to the next. After the gingerbread came peppermint and then... some sort of red velvet for Valentine's..._ it was how the world worked_.

"Two months, huh? Oh goody.", Tony teased before turning back to his tools. He was finally getting somewhere with that particular project and was hoping to finish it up before the end of the night. ...and by the end of the night, he literally meant _the end of the night_. He wanted to be in bed by one for once.

After watching the man tinker for a few minutes, Peter just couldn't get it out of his head that anyone could not enjoy the definitively fall flavor. "Do you really not like it?"

Somehow managing to keep up with the seemingly out of context question, Tony sighed. "It's fine, kid. It's just not that interesting." 

"You take that back!", Peter jokingly defended. "It is _very_ interesting, Mr. Stark. In fact, I'm going to make you try every single pumpkin spice thing I can find just to prove a point. Starting with Starbucks.", he declared with confidence before wavering slightly because he didn't actually have to money or the means to do so. As such he smiled at his mentor who was now looking back at him with mirth. "...Will you take us to Starbucks?"

Having already expected that very question, Tony readily agreed and stood up to go get his jacket and keys. "Fine. ...but only because I would hate for you to miss out on the chance to post a picture of your trendy cup filled with overpriced seasonal coffee on Instagram.", he said with a wave of his hand. Even though he was pretty sure that the social media site was already flooded with enough pictures of coffee that Starbucks would never have to hire a marketing photographer ever again. Free advertising must be a gift, he thought with a roll of his eyes as he contemplated what Stark product could be finagled into something pumpkiny for the season.

"Exactly.", Peter said with a laugh as he followed in his mentor's steps.

Despite Peter's insistent protests, Tony ordered a black coffee rather than the whipped cream covered delight that Peter had suggested and he was perfectly happy with his 'boring' choice. Though he couldn't help but smile as Peter tried to plead his way into getting what he wanted. "Come on, Mr. Stark. Just try it. It's good.", he said over and over to no avail. It wasn't until a _bargain_ came up that Tony even considered it. "What if I try yours and you try mine. That's fair right?", he begged, finally gaining Tony's attention.

"Let me get this straight, you will willingly try my black coffee if I take a sip of that diabetes-inducing coffee wannabe product you're holding?" , Tony asked with an eyebrow quirked. That sounded mildly worth it. The kid didn't even like dark chocolate.

"Mm-hmm. Is it a deal?", Peter asked giddily as he attempted to hand over his cup.

"It's a deal but you first, kiddo. That way you can't back out.", Tony smirked, thrusting his own cup into Peter's hands. Then he watched with rapt interest as the boy slowly brought it up to his lips and cringed upon tasting it. Then laughed a the dramatics as the kid then shivered and hung his tongue out in disgust before taking a long swig out of his own cup.

"Ugh! That's gross! How do you drink that? It's so... bitter.", Peter asked once he'd sufficiently washed the unpleasant taste from his mouth.

"It's dark and bitter.", Tony said with a smirk. "...like my soul."

Peter laughed and Tony was sure that was the best sound in the world. "Whatever, Mr. Stark. You keep telling yourself that.", he replied before handing the man his cup.

Tony easily took a sip of the startling sweetness and forced himself to keep a straight face. The richness of the drink was in stark contrast to his own and he was pretty sure that was making it worse than it really was. "It's okay.", he replied honestly. "I like mine better."

"This taste like Autumn.", Peter said with a smile as he sucked down another quarter of the cup in one go.

At those words, Tony nodded his head. "That reminds me. Captain Spangles had this grand idea that it would be a good 'teamwork exercise' for us to clean up the yard together. You know, rake the leaves, pick up sticks and all that jazz. I offered to hire someone else to do it but apparently that defeats the purpose. Even when I suggested that we could all take turns calling the lawn care company.", he said with a sigh. "Anway, you are officially invited. It's a Saturday. You can just spend the night if you want."

Peter tried to hold back his excitement at being 'officially invited' to an Avenger's teambuilding day but he only managed it for a moment. After that, a wide grin was spreading across his face without his permission. "That's really awesome, Mr. Stark. I'll be there, ready to do my part.", he tried to say seriously but he could tell that Tony was taking him as anything but. "What?"

"Nothing, kid. I was just thinking that I should get you some of those Pumpkin Pie Kit-Kats for while you work, that's all", Tony laughed because he was almost positive that the kid would end up doing more goofing off than actually working and that was actually his plan. He wanted a distraction. A happy little distraction to get him through the day but Peter didn't need to know that. "Speaking of work... let's get going. We have real work waiting for us in the lab."


	2. Leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, October 5th

Peter showed up at the compound on Saturday at nine o'clock on the dot as had been requested by Steve Rogers, _Captian America,_ himself. He had no idea what to expect really. He'd lived in an apartment in the middle of th city for the entirety of his life. The only thing he knew about yard work was what he saw on TV and that looked almost fun. Raking leaves into piles and spending the entire day outside. 

When he first arrived he'd expected to find everyone on the south lawn. That was where the lake and the majority of the trees were but instead, FRIDAY sent him to the common floor where everyone was still sitting around eating breakfast. "Hey, kid. Right on time.", Tony said around the mug of coffee he was holding in his hands. "Go check out the bowl on the counter."

Peter skipped across the kitchen to do just that and smiled when he saw what was in it. Not only had Tony actually gotten him the pumpkin-pie Kit-Kats but he's also managed to locate some pumpkin spice lollipops as well. Immediately pulling the clear plastic wrapper off he stuck on in his mouth. "Thank's Mr. Stark! This is great!" Then after a few more moments of standing around watching everyone mill about he decided to ask about the plan. He was oddly excited to see what they would be doing. "When are we going outside?"

"Well, aren't you just the little eager beaver this morning.", Tony quipped as everyone else looked towards Steve. 

"I think we should probably head out there now.", Steve dutifully spoke. "There's a lot to do and since we're all here now, it makes sense."

Once they were outside, Steve started barking orders and handing out rakes and large compost bags. Peter eagerly took a rake and Tony begrudgingly took a bag and they headed off towards the area they'd been assigned. However, Peter hadn't made it fifteen minutes into he chore before he was abandoning the rake and taking ahold of one of the lower branches of the closest tree. "I bet I could climb this pretty easy.", Peter mused as he carefully pulled himself up onto the bottommost branch. "Watch me, Mr. Stark!"

Rolling his eyes, Tony looked up as the kid went flying up the tree in a blur of leaps and bounds. "Great. You made it all the way to the top. Now get back down here where you're supposed to be.", he said as if it hadn't been completely amusing to watch the boy scurry up the tree.

"Fine. Peter replied as he jumped down a few limbs before opting to just flip himself all the way down to the ground and collected the rake he'd dropped at by the trunk. "That was fun. I've never climbed a tree that big before.", he added before looking along the tops of all of the trees lining the area. I think the one by the lake is even taller. I'm going to climb that one too!", He announced as he shoved the rake towards Tony narrowly missing his nose with the handle. "Here hold this!"

Taking the rake, mostly so that it wouldn't hit him in the face, Tony shook his head. "How about you keep your spidery self on the ground until we finish this.", he replied before using the rake himself to start collecting a small pile of leaves by his feet. The sooner they got done the better. However, he hadn't gotten terribly far before Steve was approaching them. 

"How are you two doing over here?", Steve asked as he looked down at the one small pile that had been collected and the empty compost back laying beside it.

"Just peachy. Thanks for asking.", Tony returned with a roll of his eyes. It had only been thirty minutes and he was already being patronized. Fantastic. 

Ignoring the obvious sarcasm, Steve looked around the area in an attempt to locate the teenager who was supposed to be helping. "Where's Peter?"

Giving the man a confused look, Tony pointed behind him and began to speak before realizing that there was no one was standing there. "Huh? He's right--", he said before looking towards the tree the boy had pointed out earlier. "He's up there. ...again.", he sighed in amusement. "Kid! What did I just tell you!"

"Sorry, Mr. Stark!", Peter yelled down from the top of the tree, essentially gaining the attention of everyone who was currently working on the lawn.

"Don't be sorry, just get down here!", Tony yelled in reply before laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. The kid couldn't keep his feet on the ground in the city, he should have guessed the lack of buildings wouldn't change that. At least he kid didn't have his web-shooters on him. Then again, that might be amusing to watch too.

"He's really good at that." Natasha mused from where she had crossed the yard to see what all of the yellings was about. Then after watching Peter skillfully climb back down branch to branch she shook her head. "Maybe better than you, Clint.", she called across the yard bringing said, man to her side. "Look at him go."

"No way. I can get to the top of that tree way faster. ...and quieter.", Clint replied with a scoff because Peter seemed to be talking to himself the entire way down. 

Looking around him, Tony realized that everyone was now watching the kid flip out of the tree rather than doing what they were out there to do. Not that he wanted to do it either but he did want to get it done. Getting it done, meant going inside and going inside meant going to back down into the workshop. "Good for you Robin Hood. Can we just get this done so I can go inside? There are bugs out here."

"Guys! We need to focus here.", Steve called out before Clint could suggest any sort of tree scaling competition. "There's a job to get done and I know if we work together and really set our minds to it, we can be finished by lunch."

"Nice pep talk, Cap.", Tony replied with a roll of his eyes before turning his attention to Peter who was now back at his side. "Here hold this.", he clipped as he tossed the rake back into the boy's hands so that they could get back to work

Within the hour, There were several large piles of leaves covering the expanse of the yard and everyone was starting to pack them into the provided bags. Everyone except Peter who had gone inside to get a snack because he was _starving. _Then just as Tony was about to go in and look for him, he saw him running full speed towards him. 

When Peter continued to barrel in his direction even after he'd gotten more than halfway across the yard, Tony took a few steps back to hopefully avoid any sort of collision because from what he could tell, Peter wasn't slowing down. He really wasn't sure what he was doing but by the time the boy was no more than two yards in front of him and still hadn't slackened his pace he closed his eyes and braced for what looked like an unavoidable impact. Though thankfully that didn't happen because a full-strength tackle by an enhanced teenager would decidedly_ hurt_. 

Instead, there was a loud whooping shout followed by the sound of all three million leaves they had just raked up crinkling as Peter laughed with pure delight. Upon opening his eyes, Tony found Peter sitting in the middle of the pile they'd just spent several hours creating covered in dirt and leaves. "Really, kid?"

"What?", Peter asked innocently as he stood up and started to brush the bits of dried leaves off of his clothes. "I've been waiting _all day _to do that."

"...but now we have to rake them up _all over again_.", Tony practically whined as he watched the loose leaves start to blow across the lawn. 

"It's not that bad. They're still mostly in a pile.", Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders. However seeing the frown still plastered across Tony's face, he sighed and picked the rake back up. "Yeah, yeah. I've got it."

Then as he looked around the area, an idea struck and Tony couldn't stop himself from laughing. He snatched the rake out of Peter's hands so fast it caused the kid's head to whip up in confusion. "I'll tell you what. If you go jump in that pile over there, I'll clean this one up.", Tony said with glee as he pointed across the yard. 

Unable to decide if the man was serious or not, Peter sputtered a bit. "That one? Isn't that Captain Rogers' and Dr. Banner's pile?"

"Yep.", Tony replied making a point of popping the 'P' at the end.

"Isn't that a really bad idea?", Peter asked with mild concern. As much as he would love to do it again because it was pretty fun. That did not seem like the pile to destroy. "I mean what if Dr. Banner gets... You know... angry."

"It'll be fine, kid. Just do it. This is your chance.", Tony urged with a hard nudge to the shoulder and a wide grin.

Easly standing his ground despite the amount of strength Tony was putting into the shove to his shoulder, Peter hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do was to be the reason the Hulk came out and tore up the entire back of the building. "I don't know..."

"Do it and I'll buy you all the pumpkin spice whatever, that you want next time you come over.", Tony bargained as he continued to prod the boy into action. 

After some thought, the promise of seasonal treats outweighed his concern regarding the Hulk's appearance. If Tony wasn't worried he figured maybe he didn't need to be either. Besides even if it did happen he was literally surrounded by Avengers. It would be fine. "Fine. ...but if the Hulk smashes me, that's on you.", he sighed out.

Tony practically giggled with delight as he tried to picture the reaction. "Noted.", Tony said sending the kid off running. As he watched Peter leap into the air and land with an abnormal lack of grace considering his abilities Tony began to laugh and when Both Steve and Bruce turned around looking beyond shocked, he was practically in tears.

"Peter!", both men yelled simultaneously as Peter hopped up and began to shake off the leaves before laughing himself. Steve and Bruce were both staring at him as they wanited for an explanation while everyone else looked between him and Tony with amusement. 

"It was Mr. Stark's idea, I swear! Just look at him. He knows what he did!", Peter nearly shouted through his own laughter. He couldn't help it. Listening to Tony breathlessly laughing in the background was more entertaining than the actual leap into the leaf pile.

"That's fine.", Steve said with his hands crossed over his chest and a smile trying it's hardest to break through. "I guess that means we're done here. You two can just finish up.", he managed before he could no longer stop himself from grinning. With that, he called the rest of the group to follow him in and turned to wave at the no longer laughing billionaire. "We'll all see you inside."

Thirty minutes later as Peter was tying up the last compost bag, Tony threw his head back in gratitude. "Thank God, we can go inside now.", he said, though, technically, it was his building. He could have gone inside whenever he wanted. He just didn't want to have to listen to any speeches about _responsibility_ or whatever other nonsense Steve decided to hit him with for not getting the job done. That and Peter seemed to be almost enjoying it.

"Yeah but being out here is nice too.", Peter sighed out, taking in the scenery. "I love Queens but you can do this kind of stuff in the city--Oh my God! We could have a huge bonfire out here!"

"Why?", Tony asked guizically. "Haven't you had enough fresh air for one week?"

"Oh come on Mr. Stark! People always do that kind of stuff the movies and the evenings are cool enough now that it would be perfect. We could sit around the fire and tell ghost stories or something... and make snacks.", Peter rapidly explained, nearly vibrating with excitement.

"Of course, snacks.", Tony said with a mirthful roll of his eyes before giving in. "When are you out of school for fall break?"

"Next Thursday through Monday." , Peter readily answered. "Why? Are we going to do it, Mr. Stark?"

"Why not.", Tony said as if making the kid happy wasn't one of his favorite things to do. "If May's okay with it you can spend some of that time here. We'll do your fire pit thing one of those nights."

"Awesome.", Peter breathed out as he trekked inside closely behind his mentor. He was pretty sure this was going to be the best October ever.


	3. Bonfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thursday, October 10th

Peter showed up at the compound the bright and early Thursday morning. He didn't even have to take the time to pack anything once he'd gotten up. That was one of the major benefits of being an 'almost Avenger'. He had a room fully stocked with everything he could possibly need. Well, two rooms actually. He had a room on the common floor that mostly held all of his legos and an assortment of both finished and unfinished projects. However, the room he actually slept in was the one in Tony's personal suite. He preferred that one because it felt more like home.

"May said I can stay here until Sunday night if I want to because she has extra shifts.", Peter announced as he bounced into the lab where Tony was already working. The man had said he could spend some of his break there he figured that all but one day still counted as 'some.' Not that Tony would ever tell him to leave. He was pretty sure the man liked it when he was there. He was always asking him to stay and he certainly didn't have to give him a room in his own home but he had and Peter loved it. 

"Sounds great, kid. That should give plenty of time to tinker and update your suit protocols.", Tony returned with a smile. "Maybe even train a little."

"..and have a bonfire, right? You said we could.", Peter replied as he finally took a seat near where his mentor was manipulating some sort of complicated design that looked a lot like a new version of the Iron Man electrical system. As much as he wanted to know, he held back that question in favor of getting an answer to his last one. "Are we still going to do it?"

Having already talked to everyone in the building about doing just that, Tony smirked. "Like I could forget. You've only been reminding me every day since last weekend."

"Awesome! ...and we're going to make s'mores for sure?", Peter announced without pause. That was the one thing he was certain of. He didn't really have any kind of firsthand knowledge when it came to fireside snacks but he was dead set that the crunchy, sticky, gooey concoction had to be on the list.

Glancing up only for a moment, Tony quirked an eyebrow. "I thought those were a summer thing.", he asked as he tried to think if he had the nessesary components laying around the compound. He'd not really even considered that as an option before. He was pretty sure they did had everything but he already knew that if they didn't, he'd figure it out. He was starting to wonder if there was a limit to what this kid could talk him into. 

"They're an _anytime thing_, Mr. Stark. There are no limits on when you can eat campfire desserts.", Peter replied with unwavering certainty. 

"Yeah, I wouldn't know.", Tony clipped. "I don't_ do_ camping."

That suddenly gave Peter what he thought was an excellent idea but it seemed his mentor wasn't going to be on board. "Maybe we could--", he started.

"--Not on your life, kid.", Tony finished in a tone that said 'and that's final' so Peter dropped it. However just because he dropped the idea of sleeping outside didn't mean he was going to settle for a short night. 

" ...but we're going to stay up late and tell stories, right, Mr. Stark?", he asked eagerly because he was sure that was at least half the fun. That's what every single television show he'd ever watched had told him, anyway

Tony gave the boy a look and scoffed. "Kid. We're the Avenger's not the Girl Scouts.", he said with a roll of his eyes but the second Peter frowned he relented. "You know what? Never mind. It's fine. We'll all sit around the fire, sing Kumbayah and tell bedtime stories. Whatever."

~o~o~o~o~o~

By eight o'clock everyone who wasn't currently on some sort of mission was sitting around a huge fire. Which turned out to be almost everyone. Natasha had left the night before to go deep undercover somewhere, Thor had been off-world for some time and Sam was still on some sort of covert operation along with Rhodes. It was still good either way. 

Peter spent a good part of the fading daylight climbing the nearby trees and Tony rolled his eyes and tried to hide the fond smile that wanted to cross his face every time the kid shouted, 'Hey Mr. Stark! Watch this!'. Then as darkness finally took over, Peter was back at Tony's side still grinning ear to ear.

"You know there's a place not too far from here where you can pick your own apples.", Clint said to Tony with amusement once Peter had finally settled himself down. "You should put the kid's climbing skills to good use."

"Oh, that sounds fun! Can we?", Peter asked with excitement because that actually sounded like a really cool idea and he never would have come up with it himself. It had never crossed his mind that it was a possibility. "I'm going to be here for days we'd still have time to do all of the lab stuff... _Please?_", he begged without holding back. 

Tony sighed as he knocked yet another bug off of his knee. He couldn't remember the last time he'd willingly spent this much time outdoors. He was more of an 'inside' kind of guy. Build in the lab, hit the gym, attend meetings... that kind of stuff. "Seriously kid? A farm? Exactly how much outside time do you need this week?"

"I like apples and I've never actually picked, well, anything from a tree before. It sounds neat.", Peter reasoned with a bright smile that Tony could still see even as the shadows dances across his face. "We should try it, Mr. Stark."

Taking a moment to consider the fact that it was Peter's Fall Break, he gave in. If the boy wanted to spend his time out of school scaling tree to pick apples at a bug-infested farm, then he'd make that happen. If nothing else but to keep the kid from getting bored and driving him crazy. That's what he told himself anyway. "Sure, why not. It's your Fall Break." Peter smiled with triumphant glee and thanked him. After that, there was a few moments of quiet where the only sound in the air was the crackling of the fire highlighted by the crickets and frogs signing around them. Tony was just starting to think that it actually sort of peaceful when Peter interrupted his thoughts. 

"Speaking of apples, is it time to eat? I'm starving."

Turning towards the boy beside him, Tony huffed a laugh. "When are you not starving?", he asked in mirth. As far as he could tell the teenager was a veritable bottomless pit and he wasn't sure if it was because of his age or his super-speedy metabolism. Probably both. 

"After I eat?", Peter replied as more of a question than an answer. It was true though. He would eat his fill every time the opportunity arose. It just didn't seem to stick with him. No matter how much he took in, he was inevitably hungry again an hour or so later. 

"Hmm.", Tony hummed non-comically as he nodded his head towards Clint who was sitting on the opposite side of the towering fire. "Apparently Katniss over there is some sort of camping expert. He's been baking potatoes or something while you were over there playing Tarzan."

"Yep. ...and it's just about done.", Clint said as he rustled something Peter couldn't see around the fire before beckoning him over. "There're some hotdogs over here. Just grab yourself a stick.", he added with a smile. "When it's hot the buns and mustard are over there by the cooler."

Peter slid one hotdog and then another onto a stick, wrinkling his nose up at the mention of mustard. "What about ketchup?", he asked reasonably, though Clint gave him a look the seemed to convey that maybe that was a weird question even though Peter was pretty sure ketchup was a fairly typical hotdog topping. 

"It's inside.", Clint eventually replied, waving his hand towards the building. "If you want it you can go and get it."

Just as Peter was considering handing his stick over to Tony so that he could go and retrieve the desired condiment, Bruce spoke up. "I'll get it. I want to grab the mayonnaise anyway.", he said ignoring the strange looked everyone was giving him because _who puts mayonnaise on a hotdog_? After a second or two, Peter shook that thought from his head, thanked him and allowed his attention to go back to the hotdogs that he was trying not to burn.

For a while, that's what everyone did. They took turns heating up hotdogs and dressing fire-roasted potatoes while mercilessly teasing each other. It was everything Peter had hoped it would be. Friendly and intimate. Like a great big family get together. He almost wished May was there too but before he could dwell on that, he noticed the large bag of marshmallows by Bruce's feet and grinned ear to ear. "Is it time to make s'mores?", he asked despite the fact that they had just finished off the last of the potatoes.

"How can you possibly still be hungry?", Tony asked inredulously. He knew the kid could eat but that seemed excessive. "How many hotdogs did you eat? Seven?"

"Six _and a half_.", Peter corrected with a small slightly sheepish augh. "I, uh, I dropped part of the last one."

Rolling his eyes, Tony stood up to collect the nessesary goods and tossed them towards Peter who caught them with unsurprising ease. "Here, kid. Knock yourself out.", he said with a grin and then looked on with a grin as the boy set not one but four marshmallows literally _on fire_ before finally warming one to a edible consistency. Then watched as he smeared melted chocolate across his mouth with the back of his hand, rather than wipe it away as he'd undoubtedly intended. Smiling at the childish action Tony couldn't stop himself from pulling his sleeve over his hand and wiping away the smudge himself. "You're a mess, you know that?", he said fondly as he did so.

Casually dodging all of Tony's subsequent attempts to clean off his face, Peter smiled. "These are so good. Are you sure you don't want one, Mr. Stark?", he asked, already loading up his stick with another marshmallow. He'd almost gotten the technique down pat and had only marginally over toated his last two. "I'll make it for you if you want me to."

"...and encourage you to swing around more flaming globs of molten sugar? No thank you.", Tony replied with a laugh before grabbing a stick of his own. He had no intention of making an actual s'more but a toasted marshmallow actually sounded pretty nice. "Hand me a marshmallow?"

After Peter had polished off the fourth confection, he sat contentedly beside Tony just staring between the dancing flames and all of the friendly faces sitting around it. Then before the quiet crackling of the fire and warm atmosphere could lull him into exhaustion, he sighed and looked at Tony. "We should tell ghost stories."

"Why ghost stories?", Tony asked with a laugh. When the kid had mentioned it before, he thought it was a joke but apparently he was serious. "It's just a bunch of nonsense."

"Because they're fun _and it's almost Halloween. Plus _we're sitting by a campfire.", he happily explained, ignoring the ever so slightly judgmental look that his mentor was now giving him. "Do you know any?", he asked instead and when Tony laughed and said that he didn't he turned his attention to the man sitting on the log adjacent to where he and Tony were pressed closely together. "What about you Captain Rogers?"

Smiling at the boy's enthusiasm, Steve nodded his head. "I know a few. They're pretty old though.", he admitted. It had been years since he'd been in a situation where any sort of ghost story would be appropriate but he was fairly sure he could pull a few from his childhood memories.

Steve ended up telling quite a few old stories before Clint took his turn offering up a few more. Bruce tried his best to tell one as well but he couldn't seem to keep a straight face and kept interrupting himself to point out the lack of scientific evidence to what he was trying to say causing everyone, to laugh. Tony didn't even try and most of the ones Peter knew had already been told by Clint. As such the stories quickly dissolved into light conversation as the fire began to die down.

"You cold, kiddo?", Tony asked after several minutes of the kid trying to practically bury himself into his side. 

"Mm-hmm.", Peter admitted before looking at Clint who had been feeding the fire for the last several hours. "Can we put more sticks on the fire?"

"Sorry, Peter. It's getting late.", the man answered quietly. It was already past eleven and att his rate it would be after one before the flames let up completely. 

"Time to allow it die down so we can extinguish it properly before we all head inside later.", Steve added when Peter looked disappointed.

"Why don't you run in and get a hoodie. I know you have like seventeen of them strung all over the building.", Tony suggested but Peter seemed to stiffen at the suggestion. 

"Oh.", the boy replied casually before forcing himself to relax. "Um... no, that's okay. I'm good."

"You're shivering.", Tony deadpanned. He knew the boy got cold easily. He wasn't clear if it was because he was so lean that the wind must blow right through him or if it had something to do with his DNA but either way, the kid was, without a doubt, chilled to the core at the moment. He wasn't sure why he would protest going in to retrieve another layer.

After pulling his hands inside of the flannel he was wearing, Peter sighed. "Will you come with me?", he asked in a way that he hoped sounded _extremely_ casual. 

"If I go in, I'm staying in.", Tony firmly asserted before little bells started going off inside his head. "...and what do you need me for, anyway?"

"Um...", Peter replied as his smile grew with every second that he spent elongating that one syllable. He didn't really have a good reason. NOt one he wanted to say outloud anyway.

At this point, it all clicked and Tony huffed a laugh. "Oh my God. I knew the weird vampire spider story was going to be too much for you.", he playfully accused, even though it was undeniably true. "You know that's all made-up, right? It's not real?"

Before Peter had a chance to answer, Clint was perking up with a laugh of his own. "Wait... he's afraid of spiders?", he asked with amused curiosity before repeating it again as fact once Tony had glared at him from across the way. "The _spider-kid_ is afraid of spiders."

Steve had the good sense to not laugh despite the irony and attempted to placate. "Peter, it's just a story meant to give you the creeps. There are no blood-sucking spiders.", he said softly as he elbowed Clint who was still trying to hold back his laughter.

"What! I still hung up on the fact he's scared of spiders. Can we please talk about that for a minute?", he begged with amusement. The idea that someone who spent an awful lot of their time as a spider-themed vigilante was afraid of spiders was extremely entertaining to him. Bruce seemed to agree as he smiled along but he kept his mouth shut. 

"Come on!", Peter finally shouted in mild frustration. "It shouldn't exactly be surprising to you that I don't like spiders. The last time I got all up close and personal with one didn't exactly go well." Not only had it hurt but he'd been sick for hours, maybe days after. He couldn't quite remember it was all sort of a blur. All he knew for sure was that it was bad. Therefore spiders were bad. 

"It gave you superpowers...", Clint suggested in disbelief. 

"_It bit me_.", Peter solidly affirmed. He wasn't sure why nobody ever considered the indisputable downside to inheriting any kind of powers from a radioactive spider. Sure his powers were awesome and without them, he wouldn't even be there but that didn't mean he enjoyed the process.

"Oh leave him alone.", Tony said, deciding to step in before the conversation could digress into a petty argument. Instead, he grabbed Peter by the arm and started to tug him to his feet so that they could hike across the lawn together. "Come on, you big baby let's go get your jacket.", he sighed out with a gentle nudge to the shoulder. "Don't' worry, I'll protect you from all the scary made-up spiders."

By the time they returned the flames had fallen so low that there was only a light glow around the area. It wasn't long until Peter, who was curled up in a thick hoodie, was leaning tiredly onto Tony. The light conversation had turned into quiet reminiscing and comparing stories from their collective pasts. Even Tony, who at this point was quietly observing rather than participating, found the entire setting comfortable and pleasant. With a deep sigh, he looked down at Peter seemed to have slowed down for the evening and had fallen quiet, a truly rare occurrence. As such, the man found the increasing weight on his shoulder unsurprising. It had to have been well after midnight. 

Then as the other's began to snuff out the remaining embers, Tony began to attempt to wake up the heavily sleeping teenager who was still wedged against him. "Hey, Pete. It's time to go inside.", he whispered quietly, turning a blind eye to the fond looks being sent his way. "Wake up, kiddo." When he got no reaction other than a few grunts at the disturbance, Tony tolled his eyes and grinned at Steve. "Hey Spider-man...", he singsonged in the boy's ear. "If you don't get up and start walking right now, I'm going to have Captain America's carry you to bed."

At those words, Peter shot up like a fire had been lit under him. "You wouldn't!", he grumbled still half asleep but definitely coherent enough to argue.

"Oh, I most definitely would.", Tony said in mock seriousness. "...because I'm not you're own personal lean post and I am definitely not sleeping out here with you. Now let's get your spider behind up to your bed because tomorrow we have work to do. ..._Inside.", _he added with emphasis, mostly because he was pretty sure he was going to end up, once again, outside with the kid by the weekend... on a farm no less. Then, shaking his head, he thought to himself that he really needed to work on his ability to tell this kid 'no' because it was becoming ridiculous. The problem was, he wasn't sure he minded.


	4. Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, October 12th

On Saturday morning at too early o'clock in the morning, Tony was waltzing into Peter's room already talking. "Get up, kid. I know it's Saturday and all that but this whole farm day thing was your bright idea. Let's go.", he said as threw the covers back leading Peter to curl up into a ball on his side while burying his head under his pillow. 

"Why do we have to go this early? There'll still be apples there at three, right, Mr. Stark?", Peter whined, pouting when the pillow was pulled from his head as well.

"Yeah but if we go now, it won't be so crowded. They open at nine and I want to leave here by eight-fifteen.", Tony announced as he continued to hold the desired pillow hostage. 

"Fine.", Peter eventually gave in, feigning annoyance. "...but only because I'm really excited about this." 

With that acknowledgment, Tony tossed the pillow back on to the bed and left the room to go start some breakfast. Peter was quick to get ready and the second the plates were cleared Tony was checking his watch. If they left in the next five minutes they could get to the farm right as the gates opened meaning it would be less, _peopley_. As such, he was quick to rush the kid out the door. "Hurry up and go get your jacket, kid.", he called out as he started to gather his own jacket and the keys he'd set aside the night before.

Looking at his mentor as if he'd suggested something utterly ridiculous, Peter brought his brows together in question. "Huh?"

"I said, go. Get. Your. Jacket.", Tony repeated slowly for emphasis. It wasn't a complicated request. "The sun's barely up. It's still cool out there."

Wrinkling up his nose, Peter smiled in amusement. "You sound like somebody's dad."

Tony sighed because he couldn't deny it and rolled his eyes. "Just go get your jacket."

Peter did as he was asked and tossed a jacket over his arm. However before they could step into the elevator, something else crossed his mind and he was turning back down the hall "Wait! I forgot to get my phone. Hang on, I'll be right back!", he called over his shoulder as Tony yelled at him to 'hurry it up'. After that, they were quick to get to the car and were on their way to the farm in no time. As they drew closer, the city highways turned into winding country roads and at one point Peter had been nearly certain that he'd spotted a deer standing at the edge of the wooded area. Something he couldn't stop talking about after. Tony just nodded along and soon enough they were pulling up a gravel driveway into a large dirt parking lot. 

"So how does this work?", Peter asked as they climbed out of the car and started towards the little wooden stand by the orchard. "Do we just go pick whatever we want?"

"I don't know.", Tony laughed. "You think this is something I go out and do on a regular basis.", he asked with humor before approaching the young woman in the stand and receiving a full explanation of how things worked. Once he had a handle on what they would be doing he purchased a burlap sack to collect the apples in and lead the way towards the designated trees. Though the second they had rounded a corner, Tony was tossing the bag into Peter's hands and laughing. "Thirty-six dollars, kid. I just paid thirty-six dollars on what would be a five-dollar bag of apples _that I now have to go out and collect myself_. Explain to me how that works, Pete."

"You're paying for the experience, Mr. Stark.", Peter wholeheartedly explained before skipping off towards the closest row of trees. Tony had to lengthen his stride to catch up as he shook his head at the enthusiasm. "This is so awesome.", the kid said as he plucked the first apple from a tree. "I mean, I never really thought about where apples came from before."

Taking a moment to look the boy over, Tony tried to decide if the kid was messing with him or not. "If you're about to tell me that you didn't know apples grew on trees then I'm about to disown you. I'll leave you right here and May can come to pick you later.", he said with his arms crossed over his chest, grinning when Peter gave him a menacing look.

"I know they come from trees.", Peter replied as he glared at his mentor. "I just never _thought about it_. I mean, you go to the store and there already there in a bag waiting for you. You don't _have_ to think about where they came from or how they got there because they _just are."_, Peter replied and even though the explanation made some amount of sense Tony continued to laugh. 

"Sure, kid.", Tony said as he patted the kid reassuringly on his shoulder and began to follow him through the twisted paths that connected the various sections of trees. He'd noticed that Peter was doing more walking than actual picking but didn't think too much of it. It was a new experience after all and he just assumed the kid was still taking it all in. That is until he slowed his pace so that they were walking side by side, Peter making an effort to stay close enough that their arms touched and was announcing that he was _cold._

Tony sighed, instantly noticing the lack of hoodie on the boy. "Well, where's that jacket I told you to get? Did you leave it in the car?", he asked in near annoyance. They had already walked what had to have been a good mile away from the parking lot and he really didn't want to have to go all the way back to the car but it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen because the kid was definitely did not have any kind of a jacket with him.

Suddenly very interested in the dirt that he was dragging the toe of his shoe around in. "Oh. I, um, I must have laid it down on my bed when I went to get my phone. I guess I forgot to pick it back up."

"Oh my God, here.", Tony said, already slipping his own hoodie off of his arms and handing it over. He didn't actually need it anyway "Just take mine."

"Thank you!", Peter yelled over his shoulder and Tony watched him take off running towards one of the larger trees. From the looks of it, people seemed to have picked the bottom half of it clean while the top was decorated with multiple bright red apples that looked more than ready for eating. He was just wondering if there were ladders or something laying around when he heard Peter shouting, "Hey watch this!", as he leaped up into the air and grabbed an apple from the very top before landing nibbly back on his feet. 

There were about two point three seconds where Tony was impressed before he realized that had probably not been a super-smart thing for the kid to do. "Yes, you're very talented now stop that before someone sees you!", he quietly strained as he looked around to make sure there was no one else around. The second he was sure that the coast was clear he crossed the distance between them and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kid... I'm pretty sure normal _non-spidery_ teenagers aren't capable of jumping six feet in the air to reach the top of a tree."

"Nobody saw me...", Peter reasoned but when Tony continued to frown at him, he decided that maybe it had been a little _risky_. "Okay, fine. You're right, I'm sorry. Can I climb instead?"

"You can climb as long as you can not do it all _spidery._", Tony hissed, having spotted a small family walking towards their direction. 

Knowing that the man couldn't really retaliate with other people so close by, Peter grinned. "I don't know what that means, Mr. Stark.", he said feigning innocence and trying not to laugh when his mentor's frown turned into a mild glare.

"It means don't get fancy!", Tony quietly snapped back with his hands placed firmly on his hips. "Now go fill up that bag. The quicker you fill it up the quicker we can go home.", he said as if he were already tired of the outing but the smile that followed said otherwise. He actually enjoyed watching Peter easily climb to the tops of the trees, hang upside down and swing himself to the ground. Often gaining the attention of whatever smaller children were nearby. They would then pause to watch with awe and then beg him to climb up and collect some of the out-of-reach fruit for their own bags. Peter happily obliging every time, all the way up until the moment that Tony decided it was time to gently call him back. The bag was full, they'd been there for quite a while and it really was time to start thinking about heading back. 

Peter chattered and laughed for the entire walk back to the car and as he was pulling the jacket off and tossing it in the front seat, the country store across the road caught his attention. "Can we go in the shop, Mr. Stark?", he asked eagerly before pointing towards the large hand-painted signs. "Look! They have apple doughnuts!"

"Is this you subtly telling me that you'd like a snack?", Tony smirked but he already knew the answer. It has been hours since they'd had breakfast and Peter had been running around and climbing trees the entire time. If he was being honest, the walking alone had him more than ready for a snack, himself.

"Maybe. Can we get one?", Peter asked with a grin. "Please?"

Tony huffed a laugh and locked the car back up so that they could go walk through the wooden house, turned roadside shop. "Sure, kid. Why not.", he said as he dropped an arm across Peter's shoulders and started across the street. 

The store was more crowded than the sprawling orchard and Tony immediately felt exposed. Tugging the visor of his hat down a little lower and tucking his hands into his jeans pockets, he followed closely behind Peter, praying that no one would recognize him. Not so much because he didn't want to get caught _at a farm of all places_ but because he didn't want the kid to get caught up in it. Luckily enough, all of the meandering people seemed to be singularly focused on the hand-carved trinkets and home-made treats. Including Peter who had his face practically pressed up against the glass of a display case. "I don't know which one I want. I like doughnuts but I've never had a real apple fritter and they both smell really, really good." 

Tony laughed at the kids wavering and gestured towards the 'pre-picked' bags of apples lining the back wall. "I just spent thirty-six dollars on a bag of apples. I think I can afford to get you more than one thing."

"...and apple cider?", Peter asked with a smile, pointing towards the steaming cups the man behind the counter was serving up. 

Taking in a deep breath because the kid was right, it did all smell really good, Tony agreed and they were soon sitting at a cramped table with a plate of warm treats between them. Peter tore through the first fritter so fast that Tony wasn't sure how he could have possibly tasted it but when he slowed down for the second he realized the kid was probably just starving. The fact that he ate through a total of four doughnuts and three fritters solidified the man suspicions and he was starting to wonder if he should order some more when Peter leaned back in his chair looking satisfied "This was really great. Thanks, Mr. Stark. For all of it, I mean. For bringing me out here."

"Mm-hmm. No problem it was... educational.", Tony replied with a smirk. 

Peter smiled and waved his hand vaguly towards where the orchard was within clear veiw of the store's front windows. "You had fun too. I know you did.", he said with confidence, smiling even more widely when Tony relented.

"You're right. I had fun.", Tony said with a nod of his head before clarifying. "I had fun watching you have fun.", he added because that had really been the best part. He was pretty sure the boy had been smiling ever since they got in the car that morning. "That and this apple cider stuff's pretty good. We should buy a couple of jugs of it."

"Awesome. Can we get some more of those fitters to take back too?", Peter asked. He was pretty sure he could eat those every single day and never get tired of them. They were _that good._

Tony smiled for a second before attempting to grow serious. "I don't know. Will we have any of them when we get home?", he asked with mirth. "... because I feel like you're just going to eat them all before we get there." He was already imagining the boy chomping on fritters for the entire drive back without halting. They would be lucky if more than two survived the nearly forty-minute trip. 

"I promise I won't eat them all.", Peter said, crossing his heart with the index finger of one hand while still sipping at the cider that was in the other. He hadn't really meant to imply anything with his choice of words but Tony read into them anyway. 

"Hmm. So you admit that _you do_ plan on eating _some_ of them.", Tony returned with a small laugh. He really wouldn't have expected it any other way.

"They smell good!", Peter nearly shouted, having already resigned himself that the man had a point. He probably would eat _at least one of them_ on the ride home. There was no way he could sit there with a box of warm baked goods in the back seat making the whole car smell like cinnamon, without getting into them. He had a lot of self-control when it came to a lot of things. Not eating when there was good food readily available was not one of them. Especially when it was practically begging to be devoured.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest for a second or two before waving one of his hands vaguely in the air. "Yeah, well, sharing is caring and all that. Plus, I bet you're good buddy, Robin Hood would like to try one, seeing as it's his fault we ended up here in the first place.", he said in a casual attempt to preserve at least a few of the fritters.

"Fine. I'll save one for Mr. Barton.", Peter agreed with a nod of his head. That seemed fair and he really wasn't planning on eating them all anyway. He knew how to share, just fine but he would play along. 

"What about May?", Tony asked with a quirked brow.

"Okay, I'll save her one too.", Peter replied with a smile. He hadn't thought of that but it was a really good idea. She would love it. 

Squinting his eyes, Tony leaned back in the chair and looked at Peter who was still smiling back at him despite his firm gaze. "What about me? Are you going to save one for me?"

Peter just blinked back at the man in surprise. "You already had one.", Peter replied with a look of mild confusion. 

"Exactly. I had _one._ You had like, four.", Tony reasoned as he pointed an accusing finger in Peter's direction. Though, he realized that he could have had another. The kid wouldn't have even questioned it. He would have sat there, happy to have what he'd received without complaint because he was good like that.

"No, I only had three. You ate one of them, Mr. Stark. I had four_ doughnuts_.", Peter laughed in return. He'd tried to get Tony to eat one of the doughnuts too but the man had declined. Thus he got to have all four.

"Whatever.", Tony quipped back with a grin before pushing his chair back. "You ready to go, kid?"

"Yep!", Peter chirped as he began to clear the table while Tony went and made their take-home purchases and then they were back on the road. Peter happily chattered away for the first half of the ride before growing quiet, having predictably gotten into the pastry box.

"You going back to your apartment tomorrow night?", Tony asked just to verify that he knew what was going on. He tended to lose track of days but he was almost sure the boy had said he was going home the next day. 

"Mm-hmm."Peter hummed around the food in his mouth. "May's off on Monday she said we could do something together."

"Are you still planning on coming by after school on Tuesday?", Tony asked, having suddenly remembered that he had another obligation that day. When Peter chirped that he was definitely still coming by Tony smiled. Even though he'd been with the kid for the last several days, he sort of hated that he was going to have to cut that day short. "I have a meeting that I can't get out of--and believe me I've tried-- so I won't be in the lab when you get there. You're still welcome to come over, of course, but don't do anything stupid until I get back."

Looking at Tony as if he'd been personally offended by that remark... because he had been, Peter tried to defend his honor. He'd never done anything stupid in the lab before. Then again, he'd never been left alone in the lab before but still, _he knew how to behave_. "I don't do stupid things in the lab, Mr. Stark!"

"I know you don't.", Tony said, laughing at how easily he'd gotten the boy riled up. "I'm messing with you. Seriously though, make sure you're being safe and all that, FRIDAY will tell me if you're not. I'd hate for you to lose the privilege of being allowed into the labs alone, yeah?" 

It was all Peter could do to not laugh at that moment. It sounded just like the man had just threatened to... "Did you just threaten to ground me?"

"No... ", Tony came back defensively. "I threatened to remove the privilege of you-- ", Tony started only to realize. halfway in, that what he was describing sounded very much like he was, in fact, threatening to ground the kid. "Yes. Apparently I did."

"You know... you _still_ sound like somebody's dad.", Peter returned with a laugh that he was no longer even attempting to hold back.

Tony sighed, rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to swat the kid right on the back of the head. "Just don't do anything stupid."


	5. Witches Brew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, October 15

When Peter showed up on Tuesday after school, he didn't go straight down to the labs as he normally would. As intriguing as the idea of being left alone in there was, there was something else he wanted to do first. While watching some YouTube videos on the train that morning as a video for a Halloween recipe had popped up and he really wanted to try it. It was just a glorified punch but it looked awesome because it was bright green. That and they had called it Witches Brew, making it sound that much more interesting. 

So on his way over he'd used up the last of his allowance to buy the handful of necessary items and carried them straight into the common floor kitchen. Once he'd found a large enough pitcher he got to work mixing the various ingredients together. In reality, he was slightly dubious about the idea of lime jello powder being in the mix but he went with it. Even if it didn't taste super great, it was green and nothing screamed Halloween like a green beverage. 

Being a weekday afternoon Peter'd not really expected to see anyone on the floor, so when Bruce walked into the kitchen he was somewhat surprised. "Oh, Hey, Dr. Banner! I didn't know you were here. Don't worry about the mess, I'll clean it up when I'm done.", he promised as he continued to stir the remaining ingredients into the pitcher. 

All Bruce could do was stand there for several seconds before he was able to comment. "What are you doing?", he asked with confusion. While he was all for anyone having more 'green' in their diet, he wasn't sure this counted.

"It's called Witches Brew. I saw it online and thought it looked awesome.", Peter eagerly explained while wiping down the counter as promised. "Do you want to try it?"

"I don't know if I want to try anything called 'Witches Brew', Bruce said with a grimace. "What's in it? Eye of newt and toe of frog?"

"Ew. Don't be gross.", Peter replied with a scrunched up face, clearly missing the literary reference. "It's just juice, lime jello mix, and frozen lemonade. Oh. ...and sugar. It's supposed to be for Halloween parties or something but I just thought it looked neat."

"Hmm.", Bruce returned still smiling at the fact that his Hamlet quote had gone over the teenager's head. "How's it taste?"

"Not bad.", peter happily replied after taking a tentative first sip. "I wish I had one of those cool goblets to drink it out of. My friend Ned has one that has a skeleton hand on it. I bet this stuff would look really creepy in that." In the article, the punch had been poured into small glass cups. Drinking it out of a red plastic cup didn't seem to have the same effect. 

"Well, I don't have a cool goblet but I might have another idea.", Bruce said with a smile. "Bring the pitcher down to my lab."

Peter dutifully followed the scientist down to his lab, pausing at the table by the large glass windows and doors. "What are you going to do with it?", he asked out of curiosity.

Smiling, Bruce started digging around under the counter until he pulled out several large beakers and lined them up on the counter. "Hand it here.", he said gesturing towards the green liquid and then proceeding to pour it into the beakers at varying levels. Even he had to admit it looked fun, especially when Peter's eyes absolutely lit up as he picked up one of the containers.

"Oh my God! That was the best idea ever! It looks like some sort of crazy science experiment.", Peter giddily shouted before practically jittering with excitement. "I bet we could totally freak Mr. Stark out with this."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?", Bruce asked before remembering a teenaged boy being sent across the yard to leap into his pile of leaves. He may not have had to clean it back up but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. More so, that Tony assumed he was going to have to clean it back up. ...and then suddenly Peter's idea didn't sound so bad. "You know what, never mind. It's a great idea and I can make it even better.", he added before disappearing into a large room, returning with a small cooler. "Dry ice."

"That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Oh my God, it looks like it's steaming. This is _so evil scientist_...", Peter gawked once Bruce had added a small chunk of the ice. Then he remembered that he was the one that was supposed to be drinking it and pulled a face. "It won't make it taste weird?", Peter asked with mild concern as he watched the drink froth and steam.

"Nope. Not if we only use a tiny bit.", Bruce explained before deciding to add on a precautionary restriction. "...and don't let it actually get in your mouth. Just sip at it carefully." 

Peter easily agreed and they sent a message to Tony through FRIDAY to let his mentor know that he was in Br. Banner's lad. After that, all they had to do was wait and that didn't take too long. Within a few minutes, the AI was announcing that he was on his way there and Peter had to work extra hard to keep a straight face as they prepared the scene. "Are you ready, Dr. Banner?"

"As I'll ever be.", Bruce said with a tight smile. He was suddenly feeling a little apprehensive about this idea. Having the kid drink what looked like some sort of deadly concoction in a lab setting was probably enough to give Tony a heart attack. However, at this point, he also felt sort of locked in so he just turned around, held his breath and hoped for the best. At least he knew where the AED was located.

The second Tony got in front of the glass doors, Peter picked up one of the beakers and brought it up to his lips. That sent Tony into a frenzy as he darted into the room screaming his name and knocking it out of his hands, sending it flying. It's a good thing it wasn't actually corrosive or toxic because it went everywhere. "What is wrong with you! Oh my God, did you actually drink that?", Tony shouted in frantic horror as he grabbed Peter's face and turned it every which way to get a good look at him. It took him several very long seconds to realize that the boy was laughing. "What's so funny!"

"It's just Halloween punch, Mr. Stark.", Peter laughed before realizing just how worried the man had actually been. "...and, um, a little bit of dry ice.", he added sounding more than a little guilty. "I'm sorry."

"Jesus Christ, you scared the life out of me!", Tony said in utter relief. At least the kid had come clean immediately because otherwise, he was sure he'd have killed him. "...and you're so very grounded. I very specifically told you not to do anything stupid.", he added with a small smile. With the consternation having passed he could see what the boy was trying to do. "Remember that? Ring any bells?", he asked as he continued to convince himself that it had been nothing but a harmless joke.

"It wasn't _that stupid_ and it was Dr. Banner's idea!", Peter defended with a small smile of his own. Now that he was sure that Tony wasn't going to murder him on the spot he could laugh about it again.

"It was not my idea!", Bruce guardedly replied before deciding that he was probably just as liable. "I just provided the props and... didn't say 'no'."

"We will talk about this later.", Tony stated in annoyance as he pointed towards his friend and then quickly turned his attention back to the guilty teenager. "...and you are still in trouble.", he added with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure that pretending to poison yourself in a biochemical laboratory could be considered dangerous _and therefore stupid_."

"...but it wasn't dangerous!", Peter laughed, pointing towards the remaining punch still sitting on the counter. "It's literally just juice. I was never in any danger of being poisoned."

Tony nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest as he glanced towards the ceiling. "Back me up here, FRIDAY.", he requested only to frown at the response.

"At no point was Peter in any danger of being poisoned."

Sighing, Tony turned his attention towards the very quiet man still standing behind them. "This is your chance to redeem yourself, Banner. Care to back me up, here?"

Looking between Peter and Tony, Bruce quickly gave in. "Okay, so poisonous or not... it may not have been a great idea. It could have ended up badly if--"

"--Ha! You see that? He's on my side.", Tony cut in with a victorious laugh. "No unsupervised lab time for you!"

"That's fine.", Peter sighed out. "I'd rather be with you in the lab anyway."

Tony rolled his eyes in an attempt to cover up the fact that Peter's reaction had made him smile a little more than it should have. "Sure. Now clean up this mess.", he ordered. "...and don't you ever try to scare me like that again."

"Never. I promise.", Peter swore as he started to wipe up the sticky green liquid that seemed to have spread across the entire front of the room. Then after a moment or two of silence, he looked up at the man who was still intently watching him and smiled. "It was a little bit funny though. ...right?"

"Nope.", Tony said with his arms crossed over his chest before giving in because if nothing else_ it was clever_... "Okay... maybe a little bit but if you ever do that again you're dead. Do you hear me, Parker?"

"Mm-hmm. I already promised!", Peter said with a smile that quickly went from genuine to mischievous. "You know... there's still some left. We could call Captain Rogers down here..."

Bruce threw his hands up in defeat as Tony smiled with absolute delight. "FRIDAY? Could you call Rogers down here? Let him know that his presence has been requested in Banner's lab."


	6. Blankets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friday, October 18th

The first thing Tony noticed when Peter walked into the lab on Friday afternoon was that he _walked into that lab_... quietly. He didn't run, bounce or even skip through the door. He just wandered in and set his backpack down on the couch in the corner with a sigh. "What's up with you today, kid? Someone steal your pumpkin spice lollipop?"

"Hmm?", Peter asked but before Tony could answer it seemed everything had already slowly processed. "Oh. No, I'm fine.", he said with a nod of his head as he dug through his bag to pull out his suit. "I'm going to run some diagnostics if's that's okay."

"Of course, it is.", Tony replied and when Peter smiled back at him and hurried over to his desk, he sort of tucked all of his previous concerns into a corner at the back of his mind. The kid was smiling and seemed to be eager to get to work and as far as he could figure, there was nothing wrong with that. "Let me know if you need any help.", he added before going back to his own project. He didn't really think anything else of it until, even over the music, he heard the kid sniff for the third time in as many minutes and turned around just in time to see him run the side of his wrist under his nose. After witnessing that act of gross incivility he could no longer keep quiet. "Kid. That's _disgusting_. Go get a tissue. ...and wash your hands."

"Oh. Sorry, Mr. Stark.", Peter replied, obviously resisting the urge to, once again, run his hand under his decidedly chafed nose as he sniffed once more. However, rather than doing so, he made his way across the room to do as he was asked and washed his hands before grabbing a handful of toilet paper to set on his desk. Then he went back to work, still sniffling. The room was quiet outside of the rock music playing in the background and the periodic rustling of tissue and then Peter sneezed. Four times, in rapid succession.

At this point, Tony completely abandoned his work in order to really look the kid over for the first time since arriving. His nose was red, there was a pile of crumpled up toilet paper on the corner of his desk and his eyes looked glossy and bruised. That and he was still being way quieter than normal. Typically he talked from the second the opened the lab door until he the moment he walked out of the building. It was weird and Tony couldn't push it aside anymore. "Are you getting sick, kiddo?"

"No.", Peter tried to say defensively but he was cut off by another round of sneezing that made his eyes water. At that point, he couldn't exactly deny it even if he really wanted to. His nose was like a faucet, his head hurt and he cold. Though to be fair, it was always somewhat cold in the lab. That's why he kept several hoodies down there. "Okay, maybe a little bit."

Tony nodded his head and reach over to place his hand firmly on the resistant teenager's forehead and frowned. Then after a quick confirmation with FRIDAY, he looked at Peter and crossed his arms over his chest. "You have a fever.", he said blandly before curiosity took over. "Wait... I thought you couldn't get sick."

"I don't usually.", Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders. When he did it short-lived. "Well, not very often and it never lasts long. I'm fine."

All Tony could think was that he was clearly not 'fine'. Short-lived or not he had to be feeling bad at the moment. The lack of chatter was more than enough to prove that. "How about we put work on hold for the day and go upstairs to watch a movie on the couch?", he suggested softly, half-way expecting Peter to decline and when he didn't he knew the kid was feeling way worse than he was letting on. 

Nodding her head a the suggestion, Peter looked up at his mentor and sighed. "With blankets?", he asked hopefully because now that it was all out in the open, he could drop the 'I'm just fine' act. 

"All of the blankets you want.", Tony replied with a slight smile because the kid looked pathetic. 

Upstairs, Peter immediately fell onto the couch while Tony went to collect the requested blankets and he was soon wrapped up in several. Though, his fever being what it was, they didn't seem to do anything for him. "I'm still cold, Mr. Stark.", he whined after several minutes of trying to rearrange his aching body to find a comfortable position. Nothing seemed to be working and he was glad that his healing factor or metabolism or whatever it was kept him from staying sick long. By tomorrow afternoon he would be as good as new but he couldn't seem to focus on that at the moment because he felt awful. "Can I have one more blanket?"

Tony huffed a laugh at the request. The kid was already buried under a mountain of layers. If anything he probably needed less coverage but he was willing to let that go as long as the fever didn't get too high. Besides, the kid looked cute all bundled up as he was. "Okay, kiddo. I know I said you could have all of the blankets you wanted but this is ridiculous. I'm not sure I even have anymore. We're going to have or resort to table cloths here soon.", he teased in an attempt to evade the appeal. 

"I only have four.", Peter frowned. "I know you have more blankets than that."

"You're right, I do.", Tony replied with a soft smile. He was a billionaire and the building was huge, of course, he had more than four blankets but that already seemed like an excessive number for a kid who was currently burning up. "You just don't actually need any more than that. Four is a lot, kiddo. How about some warm tea instead, hmm?", he offered, hoping that Peter would accept that and not persist. 

"Is there still apple cider, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked with another sniff of his nose. He wasn't the biggest fan of tea but a warm drink sounded nice and oddly enough, hot cocoa didn't really sound good a the moment. Apple cider, on the other hand, sounded perfect.

Smiling, Tony looked at Peter's pink cheeks and nose and smiled. "I think so.", he answered, glad that he'd hoarded one of the jugs to keep for himself up in the penthouse. He was pretty sure everything that had been left on the common floor was already gone. He was more than willing to share his secret stash with Peter, though. "You want some of that?"

"Yes, please.", Peter replied as he buried himself deeper into the fluffy comforter that he had practically burritoed himself. Then absentmindedly ran his hand under his nose again, much to Tony's disgust, leading him to walk down the hall to retrieve more supplies. 

Back in the living room, Tony sat all of the various things he'd collected onto the table "Alright, we've got blankets, warm apple cider, and _tissues_...", he said, emphasizing the latter. He considered making the kid get up to wash his hands again but couldn't bring himself to disturb him, so he'd grabbed some hand sanitizer instead. After deeming the kid germ-free, he sat on the opposite end of the couch and began to sip at his own warm cup. "What movie should we watch?" 

"What about that really old zombie movie. Night of the Living Dead.", Peter said without missing a beat. He'd been wanting to watch that for a while but hadn't gotten around to it. Now seemed like just as good of a time as any.

All Tony could do was blink back at the kid. He'd really not expected that answer at all. The boy had never once requested to watch anything of that particular genre before so it took him by surprise. "Really? Not Star Wars or some weird fantasy movie?"

"Nope. It's October, we're obligated to watch old horror movies.", Peter replied seriously but Tony continued to look at him as if he were delirious or something. "What? It's a rule, Mr. Stark and you always have to follow the rules."

"Sorry, kid. Following's not really my style.", Tony quipped, despite the fact that he was already preparing himself for what was more than likely going to end up being a B Movie marathon. Although, that didn't stop him from giving the kid a hard time. "Low budget zombie flicks? I thought you were better than that."

"Okay, well, what about Swamp Thing.", Peter dejectedly replied. 

Tony laughed and reach out to try and pat the boy's leg through the superfluous amount of blankets he wrapped in. "That's not really any better, kiddo."

Peter sighed and reached for a tissue. At this point, he didn't actually care what they watched. "Fine. You pick then.", he said, leaning more heavily onto the arm of the couch. He was pretty sure that if his head didn't feel as stuffy as it did he could fall asleep right there. 

When the fire behind Peter's words died out, Tony relented. It was painfully evident that the boy was no longer feeling up to any sort of banter. "No, We'll watch Night of the Living Dead. It's fine.", he said before having FRIDAY start the movie while he hurried off to change into more comfortable clothes. If he was going to be lounging around all afternoon he was going to do so in sweat pants. 

Upon his return, he hesitated before sitting back down on the end of the couch. Typically Peter practically draped himself over him when they watched movies and for some weird reason it felt wrong to have the kid so close yet so far away, which didn't make any sense at all. _ He was just on the other side of the couch for Christ's sake_. Still, when it continued to nag at him he sighed and stood up. "Do I get to have any of those blankets?", he asked, wondering when he'd become so okay with being cuddled up to...well, anyone. Let alone desire it.

"No, you can go get a table cloth...", Peter replied with a teasing smile, making sure to get a good grip on his excisive amount of blankets Tony had offered him earlier. There was no way he was giving them up. That and the idea of Tony wrapping himself up in a table cloth was sort of hilarious even though he knew that would never happen. The man had a linen closet with what had to be an entire store's worth of blankets and comforters in it just down the hall. "...I'm still freezing."

Tony rolled his eyes. Of course, even sick Peter would turn his own words around on him. That was okay, though. He could tease too. Walking over to the corner of the couch where the boy had laid his head, Tony placed one hand on his hip. "Yeah well, sharing is caring and all that, so here's what's going to happen.", he said with a wave of his hand before gesturing towards the corner of the couch where Peter had laid his head. "I'm going to sit here so you're going to move over.", he directed and waited for Peter to sit up before subsequently plopping down directly beside him and tugging at the outermost blanket. "Now you're going to let me under your blankets."

Having assumed that Tony wouldn't want to be anywhere near him while he was sick, Peter smiled and immediately lifted the blankets up so that Tony could be under them as well. From there, Peter fell into his side with natural ease. They had sat like this a hundred times before but never had it felt as comfortable as it did right then. 

That was how they spent the remainder of the afternoon. Snuggled up under too many blankets, while watching monster movies as Tony handed over copious amounts of tissues to the overly warm teenager beside him. It wasn't how either of them had planned on the day going but neither of them were complaining. 


	7. Jack-o-Lantern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, October 22nd

"Hey, kid! What have you got there?", Tony called out from across the lab the moment Peter came springing through the door on Tuesday afternoon because he appeared to be carrying a week's worth of groceries. The multiple large canvas bags looked as though they should be entirely too heavy for one person to be able to reasonably carry. He just hoped that no one had questioned the teenager's ability to balance them with such ease.

"Pumpkins.", Peter replied as if it should have been obvious before lining them all up across the counter towards the front of the lab. "I got six in case we messed up."

Crossing the room and inspecting the large pumpkins, Tony quirked an eyebrow. "In case we messed up what exactly?", he asked, knowing he was about to get roped into something. Something Halloween related no doubt. The kid had been going on and on about the holiday since the beginning of the month. He was starting to wonder if he should be concerned about what his December was going to look like.

"Carving them, Mr. Stark!", Peter laughed. "Me and Aunt May did one last night but I thought it might be fun to do one with you too."

"One?", Tony asked with a laugh. "There's a half dozen pumpkins here, kid."

"I told you! That's in case we mess up!", Peter defended but in all honesty, he just got sort of excited and had maybe picked up a few more than nessesary. He didn't feel too bad about it though. He'd bought them from the pumpkin patch bennefting his local community center. Even if they only used one of them, the money had gone to a good cause.

"How could we possibly mess it up?", Tony asked with amusement. Not that he'd ever actually carved a pumpkin before but it didn't seem that complicated. All you needed was a sharp tool and a steady hand. He could do that. "It's not rocket science, kid. ...and I know rocket science"

Peter huffed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew it wasn't _complicated_. It wasn't meant to be. This was supposed to be _fun._ "Well, we'll have to make six jack-o-lanterns then.", he said with a wave of his hand before considering that maybe he should have left the pumpkins in the bags. It wasn't like they could carve them in the lab. The tools they required weren't down there. "Should we take them up to the kitchen? We need a knife."

Sighing and glancing around the room, Tony held out a hand in suggestion. "Or... we could do this the easy way.", he proposed, eyeing a particular piece of equipment that was located in the corner of the room. 

"The easy way?", Peter asked skeptically as he followed his mentor's gaze towards a machine meant for laser cutting materials, like steel and aluminum. As fun and exciting as that sounded he was somewhat dubious about the feasibility. It seemed like a bad idea but then again, Tony was the genius in the room so he let it go. Maybe the man knew something he didn't. That seemed more than reasonable. He was pretty sure the man knew everything there was to know.

"Yep.", Tony replied with a firm nod of his head. "We can draw out the design, transfer it into the computer and use the lasers to cut it out.", he explained with ease. "It'll be more efficient."

Still not sold on the idea, Peter shifted lightly from foot to foot. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to use a knife, Mr. Stark. ...and a big spoon to scoop the stuff out of the middle.", he said with hesitation. While he didn't want to come off as second-guessing, he couldn't seem to shake the idea that this was going to end poorly. 

"Time is money, kid.", Tony quipped as he began to get everything set up to do it his way. He wasn't generally one to get detoured from his own ideas. Once he's made up his mind, that was it. 

"I thought you said that no amount of money ever bought a second of time.", Peter blandly replied from across the room.

"Yeah, well, it depends on the day.", Tony replied with a smile. "Besides, You know you want to carve pumpkins with lasers."

Unable to deny the fact that cutting up pumpkins with lasers in Tony Stark's personal lab sounded exceedingly amazing, Peter sighed. "You're right. I do.", he finally said and then they both got to work drawing out their respective ideas. 

Once they had been completed, they came back together near the machine and Peter handed his sketch over to Tony who looked at it with an eyebrow quirked. "That's it? That's your design?", he asked as he scanned the paper that held a very basic jack-o-lantern face.

"Mm-hmm. It's traditional, Mr. Stark.", Peter defended. He'd considered something more complicated but in the end, this was what he really wanted it to look like so he went with it. Furthermore, he was certain Tony would have the over-complicated route taken care of. The man never did anything simply.

"Yeah... but laser's kid. We have lasers. You could make literally anything and you decided to stick with basic geometrics?", Tony complained making Peter smile. Listening to a grown man practically whine was hilarious. Expecially when that grown man was Iron Man. 

"I'm keeping it culturally relevant, Mr. Stark.", Peter laughed before gesturing towards Tony's paper. "What did you draw?" Tony held out the paper and smirked. He had done exactly as had been suspected and sketched a detail-oriented layout for an Iron Man suit. The lined were so small and close together that Peter was actually glad he wasn't going to be expected to cut them with a knife. 

"You like it and you know it.", Tony clipped when Peter rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Whatever.", Peter came back causally because it wasn't as if he'd not expected that from the beginning. "You can make your's first, Mr. Stark.", he said as he handed over one of the larger pumpkins. 

Tony took it and set in the appropriate place before crossing the room to input the design and get everything warmed up. "Ready, kid!", he eventually shouted and when Peter gave the thumbs up and flipped the safty glasses from the top of his head to the nose, the man held his hand over the start key. "Alright, here goes nothing!"

It only took a matter of seconds for the hum of the laser to start and for every single one of Peter's misgivings to come into existence causing his eyes to go wide with mild panic. "Is it supposed to do that Mr. Stark!", he yelled over the noise that had taken over the lab.

"Do what?", Tony called back, having not really been paying attention to the process. He was more interested in starting in on his next design. However, Peter's reply brought him back to reality pretty quickly.

"Catch on fire!", Peter shouted as he watched the pumpkin got from smoldering to flaming. 

"What!", Tony shouted back as he fumbled around to find the kill switch. "Shoot! Where's DUM-E? Don't let him get that fire extinguisher!", he added once the laser had been brought to a stop but it was too late. The bot was whirring across the lab with Peter hot on his trail. 

"No, no, no... not the table!", Peter frantically shouted as DUM-E managed to knock every single one of the remaining pumpkins onto the floor with several loud thunks and all Peter could do was pause in horror. "Mr. Stark!"

Choosing to overlook the gigantic orange mess on his floor in favor of not burning the entire lab down, Tony held up his hands in frustration and shouted, "Just get the fire extinguisher and get over here!" Though it seemed that was a lost cause at this point. When the kid had paused to gawk at the busted pumpkins, the bot had taken the edge and been able to claim possession of said safty device. 

"DUM-E already has it!", Peter said with the perfect blend of remorse and concern as he watched the robot race towards his mentor who was now standing by the flaming pumpkin. "He's coming your way!" At that point he didn't see any point in running after him, however, his mentor seemed to disagree.

Taking half a second too long to register what the kid had just said Tony held up his hands in defense. "No don't let--", he shouted only to be cut off by the hiss of the fire extinguisher going off all over him rather than the now dwindling flames. "Dang, it!", he added before yanking the extinguisher out of the robot's grip. "_You_ are going to the scrap yard.", he promised before turning his head towards the teenager who was now doubled over in a fit of uncontrollable giggles. "..._and you_ can stop laughing, you brat!"

"I can't!", Peter breathlessly shouted while wiping tears from his eyes. "I'm trying I swear!"

"Uh-huh.", Tony replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm going to change clothes. You can clean up this mess.", he instructed before marching out of the lab and towards the elevator. He sounded irritated but Peter saw the smile he was trying to hide as he passed by. 

By the time the man reentered the lab with damp hair and a clean set of clothing, Peter had already cleaned up the majority of the mess and was just starting to pick up the larger bits of the remaining pumpkins. "Now what?", he asked in anticipation.

"What do you mean now, what?", Tony asked with a quirk of his brow. It was a Tuesday. Tuesday was lab day and they had delayed that for long enough. 

"Are we still going to carve a pumpkin?", Peter asked with a frown. He'd been looking forward to doing that and despite the mishap, he was still eager to try again. ...but without lasers this time. 

"What pumpkin, kid?", Tony asked with a laugh as he watched the boy scraping up the slimy gunk and placing it into a trash bag. "You planning on gluing on back together?"

"No. You can buy us another one and then we can carve it using a knife, like a _normal person._", Peter said with a smile. 

With his hand placed firmly on his hip, Tony pointed directly at the kid's chest and half-smiled. "I'm not abnormal, kid. _I'm eccentric._ It comes with being a billionaire."

Completely ignoring the accusatory finger that was no more than three inches from his person, Peter brought his hands together in pleading. "Come on, Mr. Stark! _Please_!"

"Fine.", Tony eventually relented as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Go buy another pumpkin. I'll meet you up in my kitchen in an hour."

"Awesome!", Peter chirped as he took the large billand shoved it into his pocket before taking off. "Thanks, Mr. Stark!"

Tony shook his head and watched the boy dart out the door full speed. "Weird, kid.", he mumbled to himself as he took a seat at one of his work tables and tried to get at least a little bit of work done before said kid returned. However, it didn't happen that way, FRIDAY was soon warning him that there was an excited teenager heading towards his penthouse and that he should probably go meet him there. 

"I'm back! Are you ready?", Peter called the second Tony set foot into his home.

"What are we carving?", Tony asked in return, already going through his drawers to locate several knives and the requested large spoon. 

After very little thought, Peter sighed. "I think we should just go with a regular jack-o-lantern face.", he cautiously replied. It wasn't like he was some sort of expert. Removing large chunky blocks of the pumpkin was always far easier than trying to do the fine lines his mentor had wanted to do.

"Whatever you say, kid. You're in charge.", Tony returned from the counter where he'd sat himself. At this point, his plan was to watch and give the kid a hard time more so that to participate. He was pretty sure that still counted as 'doing it together'. Close enough anyway. So there he sat, watching as the boy cut the top off and removed the slimy strings of flesh and seeds. Then he tried not to laugh as the boy overshot one of his cuts and ended up making the jack-o-lantern's second triangular eye much larger than the first. 

"What!", Peter guardedly interjected over his mentor's quiet chuckling. "It's harder than it looks!"

Rolling his eyes, Tony slid off of the counter and closed the distance between them. "Gimme that.", he said as he carefully took possession of the small knife the kid had been wielding and expertly twisted and turned his wrist in order to carve out half of the mouth without incident. "It's not _that_ hard...", he stated as he passed the knife back over and watched as Peter attempted to cut out the other half. "Keep it steady.", he guided, placing his hand over Peter's to rearrange the boy's grasp on the knife. "It's all in the wrist. Ease up in the shoulders, kiddo." 

Peter did as he was asked and soon had the rest of the mouth completed. It didn't look at smooth and clean as Tony's half but it was less choppy than the work he'd done on the eyes. "That looks better. Too bad I screwed up the eyes."

"Eh.", Tony said with a genuine smile and watched Peter cut out the nose with more ease than he had anything else so far. "Gives it character."

"I guess.", Peter sighed out once he was done and admirrng their work. "Now it just needs a candle or a glow stick or something."

"I have a small LED light we can use.", Tony replied, then disappearing down the hall only to return with the said device in his hands. After clicking it on and placing it inside he had FRIDAY cut the lights and the two of them stood there watching as the light faded from green to orange to red.

"Where are you going to keep it?", Peter asked quietly. Something about having the lights low seemed to demand that they whisper. 

"Where should I keep it?", Tony asked with curiosity. It wasn't like he'd ever decorated for Halloween before. He may have dressed up or something as a small child but he hardly remembered. His parents didn't really do those sorts of things. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Me and May have ours in the living room because that's where we are the most. That way we can see it all the time."

Without even a moment of debate, Tony picked up the jack-o-lantern and started towards the elevator. "Come on, kid. Let's go."

"Where are you taking it?", Peter asked, already falling into step with his mentor. 

Tony smiled over his shoulder and reached out to grab the boy by the shoulder. "I'm to understand that jack-o-lanterns are to be placed where they can be seen all the time.", Tony dutifully explained. "So... into the lab it goes. Maybe you can spend the weekend here and we can bring it up to the living room to watch movies one night."

"That sounds awesome.", Peter replied with a grin. "I wanted to stay with you this weekend anyway. There's somewhere I want to take you."

"Somewhere you want to take me or somewhere you're hoping I'll take you?", Tony deadpanned as he shook his head. 

All Peter could do was smile. "Um... the second one. ...it'll be fun though, I promise!"

"Sure.", Tony agreed as he huffed a laugh because the kid had a way of dragging him into things he would never even consider doing without him. He was going to ask for a further explanation but changed his mind in favor of getting back to the lab. Whatever it was, he'd find out about it soon enough. "We'll talk about it then. Right now, we have work to do."


	8. Haunted Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, October 26

It was early Saturday morning and Peter had been _mostly_ awake all of six minutes when he poured himself a large bowl of corn flakes at the table in Tony's kitchen. He'd just started haphazardly adding some milk when Tony walked into the room looking wide awake and already fully dressed for the day. "You're up early.", Tony quipped as he watched Peter nearly miss his mouth with the spoon. "Why aren't you still asleep, kid?"

"That is a very good question, Mr. Stark.", Peter replied with a yawn. "Mostly I was just hungry. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I never sleep.", Tony quickly replied with a smirk. 

Peter nodded his head and spooned another scoop of flakes into his mouth before answering. "I'm pretty sure that's not true."

"Eh.", Tony returned noncommittally because he saw no reason to discuss his messed up sleep schedule with his teenaged Mentee. He really didn't need anyone else nagging him about it, so he moved on quickly. "Well, since we're both up. What are you wanting to do today? I know you have some sort of crazy plan cooked up in that head of yours."

Suddenly feeling much more awake at the mention of his plans, Peter perked up. "Yeah but that's not until tonight. After dark.", he said with a grin that seemed to cover his entire face. 

"Care to elaborate?", Tony asked with a quirk of his brow. The kid was acting as if he'd already agreed and he most definitely had not. Though there was a very strong possibility that he would. It really was a problem he needed to work on. Either way, he didn't want it to be left to a surprise. Just in case _he did_ want to veto it. "I'd kind of like to know what I'm getting myself into, seeing, as I'm the one funding, said plan and all."

"It's nothing big, Mr. Stark!", Peter defended with his hands up in the air in surrender, yet the smile was still plastered solidly across his face. "It's this Haunted Trail thing! I really, really want to go but Ned's a chicken and going by yourself isn't fun."

Rolling his eyes, Tony took a package of toaster pastries out of the pantry and stood at the counter across from the overly excited teenager. "So you thought I would go with you. Is that it?", he deadpanned before tearing open the package and dropping his pastries into the toaster.

"Well, yes...", Peter started.

"...but _it's outside_!", Tony finished with a whine. He wasn't quite sure what was up with the kid's sudden fascination with nature. Raking leaves, campfires, farms... and now this? "Why does it have to be outside?"

"Because it's_ a trail_, obviously.", Peter returned with sarcasm but when he saw that Tony was still frowning he tried to bargain. "It's supposed to be really scary and fun and it probably won't take a super long time to get through. We can go, right?"

"If we must.", Tony defeatedly responded. At least it wasn't until nightfall and he had all day to get some actual work done. He certainly had plenty of that piled up and with Peter there, in theory, it could get done more quickly. "...but until then we can do something _productive._"

"Like take a nap?", Peter asked hopefully as he scraped the last of his cereal onto his spoon. With his stomach now satisfied, the rest of him was more than ready to go back to bed for an hour or so.

Rolling his eyes, Tony bit into his breakfast and watched Peter cross the room to wash his bowl in the sink, despite the fact that there was a perfectly functional dishwasher right beside him. "I was thinking lab time but you do you. Personally, I have about thee-bazillion-and-eleventy-nine projects to finish."

"That's not a real number, Mr. Stark.", Peter accused with a smile that Tony blankly stared at for several seconds.

"Do you really want to start pointing out things that aren't real, right now, _Mr. I Want To Go To a 'Haunted Trail' This Evening_?", he mocked with humor and when Peter's eyes went wide and his mouth snapped closed, Tony laughed. "That's what I thought."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Later that night as Tony stood outside and waited in a stupidly long line so that he could pay money to walk through the woods, he sighed. "Are you sure you want to do this? I seem to remember you getting all antsy over a scary bedtime story, what two weeks ago?", Tony asked with mirth but he sort of meant it. He could hear the screams coming from behind the wooden fence and was slightly worried that the kid might never sleep again.

"I didn't get antsy.", Peter scoffed even though he knew that was absolutely true. However, in his defense, he'd been tired and had always had a very vivid imagination. 

"Sure you didn't.", Tony said with a laugh as they followed the line a few steps closer to the ticket booth. "Look, this is your last chance to back out, we're next.", he announced half-hoping that the kid did in fact back out because he could think of a thousand things he would rather be doing at the moment. "You good to go?"

"Yep! I'm so ready for this!", Peter excitedly replied while bouncing on his toes. "It's going to be so much fun."

Tony wasn't convinced but he went along with it and followed Peter through the gates and waited for their 'guide'. The idea was for the staff to keep people from entering right on top of each other. They said it was so that each group felt as though they were in a secluded forest but Tony was nearly positive it had more to do with crowd control. It was pretty hard to feel like you were in the woods alone when you could hear people screaming bloody-murder less than a mile away from you.

The trail its self was darker than Tony had expected. A few low lights lined the path but other than that there was nothing of consequence. Until they rounded the first corner where there were multiple pairs of red glowing eyes peering out from among the trees. While Tony did give that a second glance it wasn't because he was scared so much as he was curious. He was just trying to decide if the eyes were a part of a costume or purely aesthetic when Peter drew his attention back to the trail in front of them.

"It's foggy.", Peter pointed out as they slowly kept pace with the group they'd left with. Tony looked ahead and sure enough the trail was covered with enough faux fog that you could barely make out what was in front of you. "Do you think that means something's going to jump out us?"

Tony laughed and casually placed his hands in his pockets. "That's what we paid for, right? For them to jump out and try to scare the life out of you?", he asked with a smile. He was pretty sure he could handle whatever they threw at him. The majority of his adult life had been spent being held hostage, fighting aliens, taking a nosedive from outer space, and going up against sentient AI with a god complex. At this point, a bunch of college students in costumes was child's play. 

As expected, the moment they got within a few feet of the manufactured haze, a small group of people came running towards them screaming for them to turn back, as if that were an actual option. Tony rolled his eyes but didn't miss the fact that the kid was now practically bumping elbows with him. "You're not scared are you?", he teased but Peter just scoffed.

However the moment they walked into the smoke, they were surrounded by no less than a dozen people dressed up as zombies. All of them milling around groaning and gnashing their teeth entirely too close to your face. As Tony was resisting the urge to start shoving them out of his close proximity, he noticed that Peter was now behind him with his forehead on his back. "I thought you weren't scared.", he laughed as he maneuvered the kid off of his posterior and back to his side.

"I'm not!", Peter defended while simultaneously flinching when once of the larger men snapped at him. "I know it's not real and it's not like they can sneak up on me! They're just... too close. I don't like it."

"Sure.", Tony replied but quicked his pace anyway. While he didn't mind Peter being right up against him. He could do without _everyone else_ being so close. The quicker they got past the brume the quicker he could have his personal space back. As they started to exit the area, he could hear Peter let out a deep breath. "That wasn't that bad.", he said with a smile as he placed his arm around the kid to give him a reassuring squeeze.

"I know.", Peter said defensively because he hadn't been scared. He'd been _uncomfortable_, maybe even a little anxious but that wasn't the same as being scared. "They weren't scary they were just too--"

"--Close. I get it. I didn't really like that part either.", Tony said before an amusing idea struck. "Hey, you know what would be scary? _Zombie Iron Man. ..._with a beat-up helmet and everything. That way you can see the decomposing corpse inside. Otherwise, it's just a rouge suite or something... Maybe have some spiders coming out of an exposed eye socket--.", he animatedly rambled but he was so caught up in his description that he couldn't see the way Peter was looking at him with horror.

"--Why!", Peter finally interrupted. "Why would you paint that image in my head? I don't want to picture you as a, as a... _zombie!_ "

"I'm sorry, Buddy.", Tony laughed. He'd not mean to set the kid off but clearly he'd touched a nerve. However, there was no more time to talk about it before they were walking into the next scene. This time it seemed to be escaped, convicts. People dressed up in stereotypical jail stripes running around with axes and maniacal grins while others dressed as prison guards frantically shouted for people to clear the area. 

While Peter continued to stay close to his side, Tony was glad to see that he was smiling now. The kid would flinch or shout and grab a little too tightly onto his arm but it was followed up by a laugh every time. Eventually, Peter was running ahead and playing along with the actors and at some point towards the end, Tony had given in and started playing along too. Running around while screaming and laughing was oddly satisfying. 

They had just made it through the last bit when Peter came panting back to his side. "That was awesome. You had fun, right?", the boy asked with a wide smile because he'd had a blast. Other than the whole zombie thing. He could have done without that or the conversation that followed.

Chuckling lightly, Tony wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulders as they casually made their way towards the exit. "Sure, kid. It was fun.", he replied as he watched the rest of their group exit through the gate, at some point they had ended up more than a few paces behind them. 

"Was it really fun? Or was it that whole, '_I had fun watching you have fun.'_ thing.", Peter asked, turning around to walk backward as he spoke. Something he did often and it drove Tony crazy because, _'How can you possibly see where you're going like that!', _but he liked being able to look at who he was talking to in the face. That and he had super handy spider-senses that wouldn't let him 'fall in a hole' or 'trip over a curb' as Tony had suggested. 

Smiling softly, Tony sighed. "It was actually fun.", he admitted before noticing that the kid's eyes had gone wide. "What?", he asked but there was no reply. Peter had already grabbed his hand so tightly that he was sure he could hear his bones creak. Between that and the boy yanking him forward, he didn't have much time to try and sort out what was really happening. Then there was an ear-piercing scream and the sound of a chainsaw revving up.

"Run!", Peter shouted and Tony stumbled to keep up while glancing over his shoulder at the psycho that was chasing them, his heart up in his throat the whole time. Rationally he knew they were fine. The man, no matter how insane _he looked_ couldn't actually touch them, let alone kill them but it had happened so fast that he wasn't ready for it. He'd let his guard down the moment the exit was in sight. They both had and apparently, the staff had sensed it because they were bound and determined to scare them half to death before they made it out. 

If that had indeed been their plan then_ it was working _because both Peter and Tony were screaming at the top of their lungs, running towards the safty of the parking lot. However, getting through the gate didn't end the chase. The guy continued to run after them for several yards into the field where people were still mingling around, waiting in line or chatting with friends. Everyone stopped to watch and it took Tony entirely too long to realize that at some point Peter had let go of him. "Pete!", he shouted once the man with the chainsaw had retreated back behind the wooden fence.

"I'm right, here.", Peter said with a laugh as he continued to hold his phone up in front of him. Then once Tony had caught on to what he was doing and began to glare, Peter turned the camera around towards himself still laughing. "...and that ladies and gentlemen was the Earth's mightiest hero, Iron Man."

Unsure if he should laugh or yell, Tony, sighed and crossed his arms indignantly over his chest. "When did you start recording that?", he asked once Peter had put the phone back into his pocket.

"After we got through the gate. It scared the crud out of me at first but then I was fine and you were still screaming and _it was funny._", Peter happily replied before fishing the phone back out of his pocket to show the video to his grumpy looking mentor.

The entire video couldn't have been more than forty seconds long and the lighting was such that the image was grainy at best. However, there was no denying it was him. The audio had picked up just fine and all Tony could do was huff a laugh. However, just because he could see the humor in, didn't mean he wanted anyone else to see it. He had a reputation to uphold. "You know, if that video ever gets out I'll do more than ground you from the lab, _I'll end you._ Do you hear me, Parker?", Tony lightly threatened as he turned to walk towards the parking lot before the kid could see that he was still smiling.

"Yes, sir!", Peter replied with a grin and a mock salute before following Tony towards the car. "...but I can show it to May right?"

Tony unlocked the doors and climbed in before turning towards the still grinning child beside him. After several seconds of staring, he gave in. "Just May."

Nodding his head, Peter's grin grew that much wider. "...and Ned?", he asked excitedly but when Tony went back to glaring at him he laughed. "Come on, he's my best friend. He can keep a secret.", he insisted because he could. Ned was the only other person who knew about his alter-ego and as much as he _wanted_ to tell everyone and their mother... he hadn't. He was a good friend like that.

"Okay, fine!", Tony snipped and when it looked like Peter was going to try and add someone else to he list he quickly cut in.. "--but that's it. No one else.", he firmly asserted as he began to back out of the space they were parked in and drive towards the road. After that, Peter was quiet and he thought that was the end of it. However, this was Peter and he should have known better.

"Can show it to Captain Rogers and Mr. Rhodes?", Peter asked after a few moments of silence. He could only imagine how much fun it would be to see their reactions to the video. Probably better than May and Ned put together.

Glancing beside him to see how serious the kid was being, Tony raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to disown you?", he asked with a calm seriousness that made Peter's heart skip a beat.

Being as that was pretty much the last thing he wanted, Peter was very quick to reply with a tight, "No.", and a vigorous shake of his head. 

"Then, no.", Tony came back with ease before smiling reassuringly in the boy's direction.

Peter sighed and he wasn't sure if it was from the disappointment that he couldn't show anyone else or relief that Tony was still smiling at him but he agreed to the terms. "Fine. no one else, I promise." 

"Good.", Tony replied before reaching across the car to gently squeeze the back of the boy's neck. "Now let's get back before you can come up with any more bright ideas."


	9. Trick-or-Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thursday, October 31, Halloween

Seeing as it was Halloween, Tony had fully expected Peter to not show up for their typical Thursday afternoon lab time. As such he was somewhat surprised when the heard his voice ringing out as he entered the lab. Having been in the middle of soldering together two very large pieces of metal, Tony didn't even lookup. "Hey, kid. I didn't expect to see you today. I thought you were going to go trick-or-treating or whatever it is that kids do on Halloween."

"First of all, I'm not a kid and I don't go trick-or-treating. Second of all, even if I did, you don't do that until after dark.", Peter explained as he set down his bag and crossed the room towards where his mentor had just finished up what he was doing and was removing the face shield. "...but _I am_ volunteering at the Community Center tonight. I'm going to help run games and pass out candy."

Ignoring Peter's explanation, Tony wiped the sweat away from his brow and arched an eyebrow. "What on Earth are you wearing?", he asked with amusement. The boy had on a pair of jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt with a long-sleeved shirt under it. He was pretty sure the kid couldn't even name one song that band played but that wasn't even the most amusing part. The most amusing part was that peter had drawn, _drawn_ a goatee on his face and had a glow beneath his shirt that looked very much like an arc reactor.

"I'm you!", Peter excitedly shouted. "...Well, I'm two-thousand-and-eleven, you.", he quickly added after a split second of thought. 

Tony stood up and crossed the room, still smiling at the ridiculousness. When he got over to Peter he rolled his eyes and tapped his finger on the glowing circle in the middle of his chest. "Where did you get that?", he asked because he didn't think there was anything of that nature on the market. If there was he'd not been made aware of it and he couldn't imagine very many people would even want it. 

"Oh!", Peter explained with renewed excitement. "I made it. It's a 3-D printed shell, some LEDs and a Nano Arduino that I programmed so that it could have an on and off switch. It took me an entire afternoon just to get the wiring right but then the actual programming was super easy. Actually, the hardest part was 3-D printing it so that the core was visible. I had to do it a few times to get it right and--"

"--You _made_ that?", Tony asked with something between delight and intrigue. The boy could have just as easily gone online and purchased one of the many different versions of Iron Man costumes that were flooding the market. It was somewhat flattering that the kid would want to dress up as _him _and not Iron Man, let alone that he would put that much effort into it. 

"Mm-hmm.", Peter replied with a smile before holding his arms out to the side. "What do you think, Mr. Stark? Did I get it right?"

"I don't know, kiddo.", Tony laughed before gesturing towards the goatee drawn on Peter's face. "What about this piping hot mess about?", he asked and at first it looked like the kid was going to yell at him but then the indignant stance turned sheepish as he looked down at his toes.

"Well, I couldn't... I mean, it not like I could, you know...", he said gesturing towards his own face. He was fifteen, it wasn't like he could grow a beard in time for Halloween and for some reason the comment had him flustered. "...I don't have... it wouldn't have looked right. I--", he continued to poorly explain but thankfully Tony cut him off before his embarrassed mumbling could get any further.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it.", Tony said waving that particular subject away so that he could move on to the next. "When do you have to leave here by?", he asked mostly out of curiosity but he did have a few things he could use the boy's help with. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd gotten used to having someone else in there with him to give an extra hand from time to time. 

"I don't have to be there until seven. So I have a couple of hours.", Peter replied as he pushed up his sleeves and prepared himself to do whatever the man was inevitably going to ask him to do. "Unless you want to go with me.", the added with a hopeful smile. 

Tony cringed and ran his hands through is still sweaty hair. He didn't want to disappoint but the community center was huge and would be crawling with people. "I don't think that's such a hot idea, kid. That isn't a dark trail or a huge farm. There'll be people everywhere. Small people. With grubby hands."

"You like kids.", Peter offhandedly replied because he'd seen the way Tony always took the time to talk to the small children who recognized him. He pretended like it was a chore but Peter could see the sparkle in his eye every time some random little kid asked him for his autograph.

Tony sighed because he couldn't deny it. He did like kids. They were so innocent and full of life. None as much as Peter but their optimism was refreshing. It was nice to know that there was an entire generation of people that only saw him as a hero and didn't judge him for his past indiscretions. "That doesn't mean I want to be surrounded by them. They'll recognize me and be all over me."

"No one would recognize you.", Peter said with a shrug of his shoulders but when Tony looked at him with skepticism, he elaborated. "It's Halloween. Everyone would just think you were dressed up as Tony Stark because why would the _actual_ Tony Stark be at the Community Center in Queens?"

For several seconds all Tony could do was stare at the kid. While Peter's reasoning seemed fairly sound, he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to actually bank on it. "I'll think about it. Until then, get over here and hold this", he demanded, pointing towards a large scrap of metal that he needed to manipulate. Having Peter hold onto it would be easier than trying to prop it against something to work with it. "Safty glasses on first, Stark Jr.", he added with a smirk but Peter seemed to preen at the name. The boy really was a mess.

After a few hours of cutting, soldering, and hammering, Peter looked at the clock on the wall. It was already getting very close to the time for them to leave and after working for several hours he knew he more than likely needed to touch up his costume. "We probably need to go soon. I want to get something to eat before everything starts."

"We?", Tony repeated with a laugh because last he checked he'd made no promises. "I never agreed to anything."

"I know.", Peter replied though he'd sort of hoped that by slipping that 'we' in there it would make it so. For some reason he really wanted the man to come with him. Maybe because Halloween was sort of the fall crescendo and he really wanted to share that with Tony too. They'd already done all of the other conventional October activities that it only seemed right. However, he didn't fully press the issue. "...can you at least drive me there, Mr. Stark?", he asked with a small sigh. He knew the man would at least do that _and_ he played his cards right he could dinner out of it too.

Tony rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew what the kid was trying to pull. "I think what you meant to say was, 'Can you at least drive me and buy me some fast food, _Tony_?'", he said emphasizing his first name at the end with a smirk. 

"That too. Except for the 'Tony' part because your name is definitely 'Mr. Stark.'"

Sighing, Tony took a step back and looked his mini-me over. "You do realize that Tony is my actual name, right?", he asked with mild exhaustion. He wasn't sure what it would take to get the kid to drop the formal title. He'd been trying for_ months_.

"No, it's not. It's _Anthony_.", Peter replied with a roll of his eyes. Of course, he knew the man's name. He couldn't bring himself to call him that, though. It felt _wrong_. He'd always been 'Mr. Stark'. Even before they'd ever met. "... but I'm not calling you that either. It's weird."

"How is calling by my name weird, Pete?", Tony laughed before shaking his head and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You know what? One day... _One day_ you'ill call me Tony and I'll buy you _your weight_ in ice cream as some sort of _reward_.", he promised, laughing further when the kid perked up at the suggestion.

"That sounds like a lot of ice cream, _Tony_.", Peter said with a smile. It still felt odd but if all he had to do was call the man by his first name one time to get a hundred pounds of ice cream he'd suffer through it.

Tony held his hand over his chest in mock surprise before offering his congratulations on the milestone accomplishment. "Ah-ha! You did it! You get a gold star!", he shouted with glee but Peter didn't look impressed.

"I thought I was getting ice cream!", Peter glared and pouted making Tony's shoulders shake with laughter.

"We'll see if it _sticks_ first, kid. Then we can talk about the ice cream.", he said with authority before dropping it completely. As the kid had said, they needed to get going soon. "I need a shower. Then I guess I can come with but the second people start hovering, I'm out.", he nonchalantly commented causing Peter to more than happily agree.

With in the next hour, the two of them were sitting in a Burger King Parking lot eating dinner and talking shop. Not long after that, they were pulling up to the already filling community center parking lot. "Are you sure about this, kid? That's an awful lot of people to not notice that I'm the _actual_ Tony Stark", he observed with a grimace. He'd allowed the kid to talk him out of wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap and was in a suit and a pair of his darker sunglasses instead. He felt very... exposed at the moment.

"You underestimate the power of the Halloween Spirit.", Peter flatly replied as he clicked open the door and hopped out of the car, Tony following close behind still glancing side to side as if he was expecting to be called out immediately. "Relax, Mr. Stark.", he laughed. "People spend all kinds of money to make perfect costumes, they'll just think you're a really big fan or something."

"What, like you?", Tony said with a laugh. It was really hard to take the boy seriously when he had a beard drawn on his face like a three-year-old that had located an uncapped marker. "...and for the record I am relaxed, now let's just get in there and get this over with."

"That's not how it works, Mr. Stark.", Peter said casually as he led the way into the building towards the volunteer sign-in booth. "I have to stay until it's over. I promised to help out, remember?", he explained but Tony didn't have any time to respond before the woman behind the table was smiling at them and obviously oblivious to who she was talking to.

"Peter! You look great and is that your dad you have with you?", the woman asked before turning her attention to who she assumed _was not Tony._ "I absolutely love the matching costumes! Not many dads would do that for their kids."

Tony wanted to refute and explain that he _was not_ the kid's dad but then, it seemed like a decent enough cover so he let it go at the moment. "Uh... yeah. Well, you know, I wanted to make the kid happy and all that so... Here we are.", he lamely replied as Peter snickered behind his back. Only reappearing when he went to write his name down on the sign-in sheet. "Don't forget to write my name in, _son_.", Tony teased and watched as Peter bite down on his lip to keep from laughing all over again before handing him a sticker that read 'Anthony.'

"What? Peter asked, still grinning like a cat, as they were heading towards their assigned station. "It's your actual name remember?"

For the next hour or so, Tony stood by the plastic pool filled with little rubber ducks cringing every time someone called him, 'Mr. Anthony'. Which seemed to be constant, considering how many people were lined up to choose a stupid duck as if they weren't, every one of them, marked to earn a 'prize'. "How much longer do we have to stand here, kid?", he asked as he tore open yet another bag of cheap candy. 

"Oh. Someone should be over here in a little while to take over so that we can walk around and do stuff for an hour and then we'll be assigned to a new spot.", Peter explained before thanking, what had to have been the eight-thousandth person, to comment on their 'matching costumes.' At this point, Tony was trying to decide if he should be offended or not. 

As promised, a replacement came by not even ten minutes later and Peter and Tony were left to walk around the make-shift carnival. At first, all they did was wander around, people would occasionally stop them to complement their costumes or ask to take a picture. Tony must have heard the kid explain the process of making his fake arc reactor to at least a dozen curious people and still no one had called him out on being _himself_. It was bizarre. Though the biggest twist of the evening came when he was waiting for Peter to exit the bathroom and a man approached him with a young boy in tow.

"If I didn't know any better I would think you were really Tony Stark. You're a dead ringer for the guy.", the man said causing Tony to get a bit antsy. He was somewhat worried that if he opened his mouth the man would know exactly who he was and that would be the end of the night for him. However, with Peter not there to do the talking, he had to say something so he cleared his throat and tried to sound not quite like himself.

"Yeah. My, uh, my kid's a big fan.", he said simply hoping that would be explanation enough but by then Peter was back at his side and that seemed to start up a whole new conversation.

"Oh! That's fantastic!", the man said with glee once he'd laid eyes on Peter. "The twin thing was a great idea and I love how you guys went with different decades. Very creative."

"Thanks! It was my idea.", Peter announced as if Tony might try to take credit for it if he didn't. 

"Well, it was a good idea. Your dad looks just like the real thing, it's crazy. He even managed to get the facial hair almost right."

Before Peter could reply, Tony's eyes shot up. "What do you mean almost? Almost How?", he questioned with a tone that was teetering on annoyance but he didn't get much further before Peter was grabbing him by the arm, squeezing just tight enough to get him to stop talking.

"Shut up, _Dad_.", he whispered through his teeth, straining the last word in an attempt to get the man to see that he had been seconds away from giving up his identity. Once he was sure that his mentor had gotten the message he quickly turned his attention back to the other man and his young son. "We kinda need to get going. It was really nice talking to you.", he said before tugging Tony the direction of the games. 

"What was that supposed to mean? Almost...", Tony grumbled under his breath the moment they were out of earshot, glowering at Peter when he had the audacity _to laugh_.

"It doesn't mean anything.", Peter replied, still laughing. "Stop being so sensitive--Hey, look we should try the doughnut on a string game. It looks like fun.", he called out essentially interrupting his own thoughts. 

Tony followed the kid's gaze to where a group of people ranging from preschool to adults were standing under a bunch of strung up doughnut and trying to eat them with no hands. They had powdered sugar all over their faces and looked like a bunch of sea bass the way their mouths were gaping open. Basically, it looked right up the kid's alley. Food and general tomfoolery. "You just want to eat the doughnut.", Tony said with a smile and a roll of his eyes. 

"No.", Peter replied with only slight defensiveness. While he did really like doughnuts, the people who were playing the game looked like they were having a really good time. "I think it looks like fun. We should try it, Mr. Stark."

"There you go with that 'we' stuff again... and I thought I was Tony now."

"Clearly you're Anthony.", Peter blandly replied as he gestured towards the name tag on the man's shirt. "_Mr. Anthony._"

Tony huffed and followed the kid towards the line. Once there, it didn't take terribly long for their turn to come up. Soon they were standing side by side, each with a doughnut dangling right in front of their nose. Then the moment everyone on their row was set up they were given the all-clear to start. While Peter easily managed to get the doughnut into his mouth well enough to bite it with one try Tony found himself, ducking and bobbing, only managing to end up getting hit in the nose by the swinging confection. All he could think was that it was a good thing no one knew he was really him. He could only imagine the kind of field day the media would have with this.

Peter finished his doughnut in record time and then stood back to watch Tony. "No, you have to come up under it. Wait for it to stop swinging first!...", he instructed between fits of uncontrollable laughter as he surreptitiously pulled out his phone to take a short clip of the action. May and Ned had loved the video of Tony at the Haunted Trail and this was nearly as good. There was something extra hilarious about seeing Tony doing such... normal, silly, things.

After few more reluctant tries, Tony gave up and snatched the treat off of the string popping it into his mouth in two bites. "There. I did it.", he replied with a smirk but all Peter did was shake his head. 

After that, it was time to get back to work but this time they were assigned to some sort of ring toss game. Just as before, Peter ran the game while Tony handed out the prize candy. The last hour went by faster than the first and in no time at all, they were being asked to help with the cleanup. As they did so, Peter chattered endlessly about the night and Tony nodded along as always. Then, as soon as they had turned in the last of their supplies, they started towards the parking lot. 

The second they got into the car and Tony had the keys in the ignition, Peter turned to face his mentor. "Thank you.", he said, on a whim. While it wasn't unusual for him to be polite and say 'thank you', this time he wasn't really sure how to encompass everything thing he was grateful for at the moment. Unfortunately, he didn't have a whole lot of time to debate it before he was being questioned.

"What are you thanking me for this time?", Tony asked with a laugh. 

After giving it some thought, Peter finally answered with complete honesty. "For everything. You've done _so much_ with me recently. You bought me candy and took me to that farm and the trail thing. You let me sit and watch movies with you when I didn't feel good and carved that pumpkin with me. Then there's this too. You didn't have to come with me but you did and I want you to know that I appreciate it. _All of it_."

Tony sighed and reached over the center console to pat the boy on the leg. "I'm the one that should be thanking you.", he admitted with a smile. "It was all a lot of fun and without you, I would have never done any of it."

Peter nodded his head and turned his attention to the light on his chest and started to fidget with it. "So, we can keep doing fun stuff together?", he asked before rapidly amending. "I mean everything I do with you is fun! I love the lab and watching movies but I also really liked doing all those other things and--"

"--Sure. Why not.", Tony replied with a shrug of his shoulders, ignoring the implications hidden in that request. He knew the kid liked being around him and the feeling was mutual but emotional conversations had never been his strong suit. So he did what he did best and attempted to push past it but with Peter, that was easier said than done because even after being cut off, the kid had gone from fidgeting with his shirt to look at him quiet admiration.

"Thanks, Tony.", Peter whispered sincerely, making a point of using the man's first name. Not to tease or gain a prize but because he wanted too and when Tony turned to smile at him rather than tease he was glad he had done so. It would still take some getting used to but for some unknown reason calling his mentor by his name no longer felt awkward. It felt right and as he leaned back and relaxed into the seat, he felt a hand reach out and affectionately squeeze his knee.

"Anytime, kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to post a 'bonus' chapter tomorrow (Nov. 1st) because, apparently, one of these chapters demanded a follow-up. which translates to: I couldn't get the idea out of my head so voila... Bonus.


	10. or Chapter 8.5: Haunted Trail- Aftermath

By the time Peter and Tony had left the haunted trail, it was nearly eleven. That meant that after stopping for some late-night drive-through, they didn't get home until close to midnight. Peter was exhausted and ready to head off to his bed the moment they walked in the door. "I'm going to bed, Mr. Stark.", he yawned as they walked through the front door.

"At midnight? Since when do you clock out at midnight on a Saturday?", Tony asked with a smile. Usually, when Peter spent the night they were in the lab together until at least two in the morning. Sometimes later if the kid had squeezed a nap in somewhere during the day.

Sighing deeply, Peter turned towards his mentor and tried to glare. Only he was too tired to do so effectively. "It's been a long day.", he defended when the man continued to look at him with mirth.

"Sure, kid.", Tony said once he was sure he could without breaking out into laughter. "You're right. It's been a long day. I'll see you in the morning."

"Where are you going to be?", Peter asked though he wasn't sure why. It was a stupid question really. Tony spent every second of his spare time in the lab. So much so that it was probably more accurate to say that he spent his spare time his bedroom or the kitchen. However, there was a tiny bit of unease needling at the very back of his mind demanding that he ask.

For a split second, Tony looked Peter over with concern before blowing the question off as the kid's exhaustion speaking. "I'll be in the lab, Buddy. Same as always."

Peter nodded and leaned in to give the man a quick hug before disappearing down the hall towards his bedroom. "Good-night, Mr. Stark.", he said just before closing his door when he noticed that the man was still watching him.

Once in his room, Peter quickly changed into his nightclothes and doing everything else he needed to do before falling onto his bed in a heap. He really was tired. They had stayed up super late the night before and had ended up waking up entirely too early that morning. Despite the nap he'd taken later, his body was currently demanding rest. Yet the moment he gave in and shut his eyes his mind was filled with the events of the evening.

He found himself smiling at the memory of Tony running from the chain saw but that quickly turned into a fabricated image of the Iron Man zombie the man had described earlier. Shaking that from his mind he pulled his thoughts over to the way the two of them had danced around with the people dressed as creepy living dolls and how his mentor had laughed at him when he startled at the sound of a foghorn in the distance. All in all, it had been an amazing night. He was still sort of basking in the idea that Tony Stark would want to something so random with him and he was pretty sure he would be smiling about it for a very long time.

That's exactly how he fell asleep. Smiling. Though when he woke up several hours later that smile was long gone. In fact, he woke up nearly panicked. His heart was racing and he could feel his entire body shaking with anxiety. While it wasn't terribly unusual for him to have nightmares from time to time, this one had been very different and he was having a very hard time shaking the imagery. Then, just as he had decided that maybe getting out of bed would do him some good, his door cracked open and he heard Tony calling his name. That seemed to send him into a panic all over again. It wasn't until he saw the man's face that he was able to really calm down and relax.

"Pete?", Tony said as she carefully peeked into the boy's dark bedroom. "Are you alright?", he questioned once he'd gotten a good look at the kid and realized that he was still somewhat out of sorts. He knew the boy had nightmares but he'd never actually been around for any of them. Mostly because Peter didn't typically seek anyone out afterward. He would usually handle it himself and on occasion, talk about it later. The only reason he was there this time was that he'd heard the kid half-shout his name as he walked past the door on his way to his own room.

"I'm fine, Mr. Stark.", Peter uttered in near embarrassment. Not because he's had a nightmare, the man already knew he had nightmares. It was more of the fact that this one, in particular, seemed like a nonsensical thing to be so worked up over. At least his typical brand of nightmare had roots in past experiences. This one made him feel like a child who was afraid of the monster under his bed. "It was nothing. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine...", Tony replied from the doorway with a soft smile. "Can I come in?", he asked and when Peter nodded his head in the positive, he approached the bed and sat at the edge. He looked at the boy's sweaty hair and gently brushed it off of his forehead before allowing his hand to rest on the side of the boy's face. "Nightmare?"

"Yeah.", Peter admitted as he closed his eyes and leaned into his mentor's touch. The warmth was reassuring but it was short-lived as the man retracted his hand after only a few seconds. Though, when he snapped his eyes open at the loss of contact, Tony was quick to replace his it but this time on his chest, applying gentle pressure to ease him back down onto his pillows.

"Do you want to talk about it?", Tony asked quietly.

Peter debated the question for what felt like several minutes. Part of him wanted to tell the man everything and part of him was worried he would get laughed right out of the building. When he couldn't seem to decide what to do he sighed. "You'll laugh at me."

"I won't.", Tony replied without missing a beat. He'd never laughed at the boy's nightmares before and he wasn't sure why the kid thought he would this time. Then he suddenly remembered that his first thought, when they had gotten in line at the haunted trail, was that he wouldn't be surprised if Peter didn't sleep for a week afterward. Though he'd allowed that thought to fall to the wayside once the kid had started laughing and having fun. "Was the haunted trail too much?", he asked and Peter shook his head. "You know it's okay if it was. I won't laugh, I promise."

"It had nothing to do with the trail.", Peter sternly pressed before growing very interested in the hem of his sheets. "It was... well, it was something you said.", he finally grumbled under his breath.

Tony tried to think back to what on Earth he could have said that would lead to a nightmare. He knew the kid sometimes dreamed about the building that had fallen on him or about his uncle's death but none of those things had been mentioned. "What did I say, buddy?", Tony asked in confusion after replaying parts of the different conversations they'd had that day in his head several times over.

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Stark.", Peter insisted with a sigh but he could see the guilt on the man's face and he hated that he was the reason it was there. "I'm fine now. I can go back to sleep."

"I need to know what I said that upset you, kiddo. I can't avoid saying it again if I don't know what it is.", Tony said as he moved his hand from the boy's chest back up to his hair.

"It's literally so stupid.", Peter grumbled, still reluctant to admit to what his subconscious had clung too.

"It's not. I promise it's not.", Tony whispered. He wasn't going to let this go. 

Closing his eyes so that he couldn't see his mentor's face as he spoke, Peter began to carefully explain. "It was the whole zombie thing, but, but not like the trail part. The part where you were talking about... well... you know. It's just that I have a really good, like, vivid imagination so I could picture it really clearly and it, well, it was scary."

Tony looked up at the ceiling so that he could smile in the cove of darkness before speaking. "Kid, you know that will literally never happen right?", he said without any real judgment. Peter was still something of a child and it wasn't a big deal if he still had moments where he was afraid of things that weren't necessarily logical. That and if the kid's imagination was as detailed as he assumed that it was then it had more than likely been a fairly gruesome sight.

"I mean of course I know that. I know there's no such thing but that doesn't make _the image_ any less scary, Mr. Stark. Besides if you were a zombie then that would mean that, that you... _died_... and...", Peter tried to explain but his words trailed off lamely towards the end because it was then that he realized that maybe that was the scariest part. He'd come to love Tony and he wasn't sure he could survive another loss like that.

Suddenly comprehending what the boy had been alluding too, Tony stilled. It wasn't just the concept of zombies or of a zombie in an Iron Man suit that Peter found disturbing. It was the idea of him dying and the underlying significance that came from that wasn't missed. "I'm right here, Buddy."

"I know you are.", Peter replied as he once again started to lean into the fingers that were still threading through his hair. "It was just a stupid dream."

Tony nodded his head in mild agreement and smiled. "It was a dream but that doesn't make it stupid. It's okay to be afraid of things. Especially things that you can't control but, kid, I promise I will do everything I can to not die for a very long time, okay?"

"Yeah.", Peter replied, pausing to swallow before making what felt like an extremely childish request. Though he figured that at this point he'd probably already hit the cap on how much of a baby he could sound like in one night and may as well go ahead and ask. "Can you, maybe... stay with me for a little while, Mr. Stark? Just until I fall back to sleep?"

"I can do that.", Tony said with a small smile before nudging the boy over. "...but if I'm gonna stay then you're gonna need to move over. I'm old, kid. My back requires support.", he laughed as he kicked off his shoes and lay beside Peter, half propped on the headboard. Then when the boy rolled onto his side and practically pressed his nose into his thigh he smiled down at him. 

After several minutes he was almost sure that Peter was asleep and had every intention of getting up to leave. The problem was that as he was about to do just that, the sleeping teenager sighed and wrapped his arms tightly around the leg closest to him. After allowing a few more minutes to pass, Tony attempted to wriggle his way out of the boy's grip. When that didn't work, he made an effort to carefully remove the hands that were clinging to him only to find that he was basically _trapped_. The kid wasn't just clinging, he was _sticking_ to him and there was no way to get out of that without waking him up. 

This led to a great deal of internal debate because it was almost four in the morning. Part of him wanted to wake Peter up so that he could get into his own bed and try to get at least a few hours of sleep before the sun rose but at the same time, he didn't want to disturb the kid. He was already having a rough night and waking him up all over again when he'd just gotten back to sleep seemed almost cruel. Especially knowing that he was the one who'd inadvertently put that particular fear in his head, to begin with.

In the end, he opted to wait the boy's sticky finger's out. If he was lucky the kid would roll over in the next few minutes, thus freeing him to escape the room. However, that didn't happen. An entire hour passed and Peter was still thoroughly attached to his leg. At that point, Tony reached behind himself to readjust the pillow that he was leaning against and reclined himself just a tiny bit further. As he did so, Peter held on that much more tightly while simultaneously readjusting his spidery hold so that he could rest his head there as well. "Well, I hope_ you're_ comfortable.", he whispered as he continued to try and find a positing that might allow him to get a least a little rest.

Much later that morning, Tony awoke to Peter stirring in the bed beside him. Looking down, he smiled as he watched the kid hover in the space between consciousness and light slumber. Though, rather than opening his eyes, all Peter seemed to do was snuggle a little closer to him. That being the case, Tony rolled his eyes and started to gently prod at the still peacefully snoozing spiderling. "Alright, that's enough sleepy time. Wake up, Pete.", he said quietly, laughing lightly when the kid's face scrunched up at the disturbance. "Better get up or I'm going to go eat the rest of your Corn Flakes."

"No, you won't.", Peter sleepily replied, still not bothering to crack even one eye open. "You don't even like Corn Flakes."

Somewhat surprised to have received an answer at all, Tony huffed a laugh and started to shift his weight in the bed. "Yeah, well, How about you let me up anyway?", he replied with mirth.

"Hmm?", Peter asked before he seemed to notice that something wasn't_ right. _Rubbing his cheek against the cloth beneath his head, he came to a realization that it was not his extra pillow he was holding. That had him snapping his eyes open while simultaneously jerking his head to the side, only to find that it was Tony he had a hold of. That sent him into a flustered rush causing him to so rapidly yank his hands away from the man's leg that he could hear his fingers detaching from the jeans material. "I'm sorry.", he chocked out still half sleep-hazed. 

Having finally been released, Tony dramatically sighed as he lowered himself into a more horizontal position on the bed. "You don't need to be sorry. It's not like you did it on purpose. ...did you?", Tony asked with amusement as he continued to stretch out and adjust the pillow beneath his head.

"Of course, not!", Peter snapped back, sounding a little more grumpy than he'd meant to. "Why didn't you just wake me up."

Tony sighed and rolled on to his side, tugging at Peter's sleeve so that he would roll over as well, to face him. "Because I wanted you to sleep. You'd already been up once and I didn't want to wake you up again. Not when it wasn't the end of the world for me to just stay here.", he explained casually. There was more he wanted to say but he wasn't sure if he should. For once in his life, he was trying to think before he spoke. He almost wanted to congratulate himself.

"I'm still sorry. When I asked you to stay for a few minutes, I didn't know that I was going to, you know,_ stick to you._", Peter said somewhat sheepishly. That had never happened before. Not with another person anyway. He often ended up holding a pillow as he slept and had, at times, inadvertently stuck to it but _that_ didn't seem near as... weird. Probably because that had never lead to the need for an explanation. 

"It's not a big deal. I can handle your _crazy spideriness_. If anything, it was kind of _cute_.", Tony said with a teasing smile as he reached out to pinch the boy's cheek. However, he never made contact because the kid jerked his head to the side to avoid him.

After successfully dodging his mentor's grabby hands, Peter glared in his direction. "I'm not _cute_, Mr. Stark."

"Sure you're not.", Tony placatingly replied. "You're big and tough and... _not cute_."

Even though he could feel the sarcasm in the man's tone, Peter squinted his eyes and returned with a curt, "Thank you."

"Whatever, kid.", Tony laughed said as he looked at his watch and sat up on the edge of the bed. "You ready to get up? It's almost nine-thirty."

"Yeah. We can get up.", Peter agreed with a light yawn. He was still somewhat tired but he assumed that once he got moving he'd be just fine. Besides he was eager to see what sort of things Tony was going to have him help with that day and smiled. Sometimes he still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have Tony in his life. Not just as a mentor but as a... friend maybe. He wasn't even sure of what kind of relationship they had anymore it was seemed to still be evolving. He was grateful and as always, he wanted to make sure Tony knew that so before he spoke up. "...and um... Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, Kiddo?", Tony asked, turning around and smiling fondly at the way the kid was apprehensively looking down at the carpet.

Having not really thought about what he'd really wanted once the man's eyes were on him, Peter took a couple of seconds to gather his words before he looked up and gave the man a smile. "Thanks for staying with me.", he said with certainty and then wavered slightly as he continued. "It was... nice. Knowing you were there."

"I'm always there, kid.", Tony said softly before realizing how sentimental that sounded but he didn't take it back. Instead, he turned and started towards the kitchen. "Now, let's go. You can have some of your boring Corn Flakes while I make us an omelet or something."

Peter shook his head, smiled and followed the man through the door still feeling overwhelmingly lucky just to be there. 


End file.
